Artasia at Spring Valley
YMCA Hamilton Burlington Brantford
🖌️ Artist Educator: Key Bennett
Snakes Society
As soon as I presented the idea of Forest and Nest to the kinders, one of them chimed in saying he didn’t want to make a nest – the animal he wanted to build a home for was a snake, and he said that they lived under rocks.
“Then make some rocks!”
Every few minutes, as I was helping with the other kids, he’d come up to me and show me crumpled up paper with a piece of tape wrapped around it, and said “look at my rock!!!”
Once the plasticine was distributed, the kids started to make the corresponding animals to the shelters they just made.
Predictably, the subject of this story made a snake. When I went to take a picture of it, another child came up with an even BIGGER snake.Â
I prompted them, asking: “Are the snakes friends?” which was met with a pause in thought. “Do they have a family?”
This got the gears turning. The two of them grabbed their snakes, and the cardboard with two “rocks” on it, and got to work.
The next time I saw it, the piece of cardboard was FILLED with snakes. As it turned out, they got other kids (and counselors) to add to their snake family – what started as a “far-fetched” individual idea, ended with a spontaneous collaborative effort from the kids!
Spring Valley Gallery
“The white thing is a solar panel! I thought it was interesting that the kinders thought it was a necessary part of the home.”
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Scroll through this gallery to witness the diverse artworks children created.
Can you hear the stories behind each of them?
