Artasia at R.A. Riddell

At R.A. Riddell everyone was interested in space. Before we started our activity, the kids had to move from the carpet and cozy corners to the tables so we could create comfortably, already moving from one space to another excitedly. Once they had sat down in their spots I asked them about space, what it was and what they knew about it. I had assumed that they would first talk about outer space, the sun or the moon or their favourite planet but that assumption was blown away when the first kid I called on said “you give space when you’re too close!” just like they had to do when they sat down at the tables, This was a common theme among the answers some others being “you give people space when they’re sad” and “we have to give people space so they can make art!” these conversations were not at all what I had expected but were an incredible insight into how they saw space in that moment and how the action of moving around the room impacted their understanding of what space could mean to them. Eventually one child brought up outer space and said that  “the moon is in space, but its already super far away” he giggled like it was a joke but right after he said that the other kids had been prompted to talk about the sun, the stars and all the other planets in the solar system and how far away they thought they were. They said they were so far away, almost too far away, because they needed rocket ships to get to them. I asked them if they wanted their own rocket ships and if they had them how would they decorate them. Many of them said yes and that would cover their ships in stars and other things they knew were in space, which carried over into the things they created when we finally got to the activity. We made our own spaces informed by our conversation about what space is, or what it could mean and many kids made rocket ships so that they could fly to the moon.

– Wren Breeze