Bookmaking with 8 to 10 Year Olds

I wished I could have taken the kids to visit the Prints Department to see some of the Medieval manuscript pages and a book on swordsmanship, but the group was too large. There wasn't enough time to make arrangements with the curator of the department. 

Instead, I did an online search to see if there were any paintings of books and I found

Still Life with Books by John Frederick Peto (1854 - 1907)

currently on view in the American Gallery. So that's where we began our visit.

I stood with my back to the painting.

"Hey! I was told there would be books for us to see."

Everyone pointed behind me.

"What? They're just paintings!"

There was a chorus of "No! It's a painting of books!"

I gave a brief spiel about this artist painting a trick of the eye. Using light and shadow, he makes us think that the books are very real and we can pull them out of the painting. We would be going to the studio to make some real book structures.

This age group was boisterous and over-flowing with pent up energy. There was so much noise that even though I felt like I was screaming, I wasn't heard. A situation I'm not used to teaching adults. 

There were 2 aids for this class and that should have been a hint to me. One of the aids began to loudly chant, "ONE, TWO, THREE! Eyes on me."

"ONE, TWO, THREE! Eyes on you." and the class instantly quieted down to listen to instructions.

There were 3 book structures that were planned. An accordion fold book which they breezed through and a circle book.

They were fascinated with the circle book which when finished could be fanned out. The children would given eight 4 inch circles. Two were cut from watercolor paper to be used as covers to give stability to the book. A hole punch used to punch holes in the circle, pages arranged, and held together with a paper fastener or brad.

Though there was a bit of chaos in the room, most of the children spent time and thought as to what to fill their book.

Some drew pictures

some did a combination of collage and text

Some had very detailed stories

Half of the kids were focused and interested in what they were doing. Half were not. A consult with the aid who had more experience teaching this age group, it was decided to skip the third book, a pamphlet stitched book made with envelopes as pages. Large sheets of drawing paper were passed out for the last 45 min. to half hour of class for a free draw. Crayons, colored pencils, markers were brought out. No paints for this group!

An accordion book

One little guy made some origami airplanes for the cover of his book with directions on how to make paper airplanes

Lots of creativity and talent in this group

One quiet, shy little girl (I wish I had a room full of her 😜) celebrated Earth Day, the day the class was held.

All in all a good class though this age group is composed of Energy Vampires. They just suck the life force from you. 😸 After class, other instructors had told me this age group could be difficult to handle. The Little were enthusiastic, but cooperative. The Tweens and Teens focused, but this middle group was hopping off the walls. I was grateful for the aids that brought order to the room and Five Guys for dinner when I got home so I didn't have to cook.