Tag: kids

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Creating together is bonding.

As I become more aware of the long standing injustices toward the Black and Brown community I want to be a part of the honest change that is necessary to move forward and heal . The whole C.O.Y.C. Board feels this way. We know creativity can help.

We find that reusing recycled materials in classrooms and during our art-at-lunch programs creates spaces where kids connect with one another. They find common focuses through the projects they make. Creating with basic materials like cardboard and paper is a level field of opportunity and inspiration. Everyone is equal in the eyes of creativity.

Creativity bonds. It is our goal that as kids spend time together through our program they focus on creativity, collaboration and connection. We hope that they embrace their differences and respect one another as individuals.

Exercising equality through respect is foundational. Spending time together making, problem solving and trouble shooting creates connection. It bonds them to one another.

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An artistically scientific idea.

We have a box of teaching cards in our care that we have fondly named “Old School Idea Cards”. They date back to 1971, published by Houghton Mifflin Company. The cards seem to be directed primarily toward younger children but the ideas throughout are ageless. I drew a card that says it combines art and science by inviting children to hang various random items onto a strip of cardboard that hangs by yarn at each end-a mobile of sorts. They can use all sorts of found inters like paperclips, paper strips, plastic pieces, paper cups, popsicle sticks, paper plates, stickers, tape or whatever else they reuse on campus. The result is an opportunity to explore suspension, balance and motion in a visual format. What a great idea, making a mobile. It can be an individual process or a collaboration with a partner. Trying ideas, processing information, getting swept into wonder… a natural place for the human mind to settle…