But relating to Honigman and Bhavnagri's (1998) article titled, Painting with Scissors: Art Education Beyong Production, I wanted to explore other art medium. The article talked about how they used scissors/cutting paper to make a collage that resulted in a painting-like picture. This blog post was suppose to focus on other "art" verb and though I did not use the most common ones such as glueing, sculpting and etc. I rather focused on other ways that a child or a person can express themselves through art. I went to a school that offered the art program. I was in music but I had friends who were in visual arts, drama and dance. Music had their concerts, visual arts had their shows, drama had their plays and dance had showcases. Each one was impressive but I found dance was the most difficult and impressive form of art. They needed to be physically trained to do the movements, follow along to the song, its melody and rhythm and no matter what I was always blown away by their performance.

         Children are active and they are in the process of mastering their gross motor skills. I don't like it when they are constraint to what physical activities they cant do. For example, when they aren't allowed to run around, climb that tree or etc. I understand the safety concerns and societal rules but I was a child once and I loved climbing trees, jumping from high places and tripping from running (even though I did get some scars, its okay). These activities allow us to be aware of our capabilities. We try it once or twice no matter if we fail or not.

        That is why I wanted to create an activity that would embrace the experimental learning of children and their gross motor skills. It's a simple activity that can happen for part of the day or could just be part of the daily routine. From my previous placements, I had this cd that played the "spiderman" song. There were various movement in the beginning but at the end, the children jump up and yell "spiderman!" It would repeat itself 3 times and each time got faster and faster. The times I brought it in, the children expressed enjoyment and wanted to do it over and over again.

          With that said, I thought a dancing activity would be another way children can express themselves and understand the world around them. I have not thought of specific movement that the children can follow along and I wished I had some crazy computer/dj skills that allow me to cut and compile favourite/exciting parts of different songs into one so I just have a playlist of songs. Below are some suggestions of songs that can be played. Of course if I was working with teachers or parents they can bring in different song ideas that they think the children would enjoy. The playlist has different artists and genres. There are really no popular songs in it but a few old ones that children at this time have never heard before. I want the children to listen to the songs and dance how they would feel. I remember in one of my placements, we were playing music and we were all dancing except one the children was "breakdancing" and yes it was of concern but the teacher immediately stopped the child. I felt bad for him because that is how he wanted to dance. So, this activity needs to be set up on a carpeted floor and must be cautious of the surroundings (keep away from any danger) so the children can express themselves in any way. I can also incorporate this tin heir pretend play or in the drama centre so they relate their emotions to music and understand music and drama together.

 Music Playlist at MixPod.com

From Youtube.

The element of art I would focus on in this blog is design or composition. Just I have designed this activity to be a freedom of expression through dancing, I would like the children to be aware of their process and how it can result to something. If they hear music that's loud with hard rhythm and beats, what emotion would they express? It would be interesting to see what they have designed their dance from the song they are listening to. Schirrmarcher and Fox (2009) says that by talking to children about the elements of design or composition, they are able "to talk about works of art and make children aware of the planning and energy that often accompany the making of art" (p.142).

Reference:

Honigman, J. J., & Bhavnagri, N. P. (1998). Painting with scissors: Art education


     beyond production.Childhood Education, 74(4), 205-212.)