November – ‘Perspective!'

Never too young to learn about ‘one point perspective’!

Today we’ve opened the doors to the basics of architecture by introducing ‘one point perspective’ drawings. Class discussed the meaning of ‘perspective’ and its relation to space and distance.

Working within the constraints of ‘Buildings, Trees and Road’, participants were tasked to exercise their understanding of today’s lesson.

Learning outcome: Introduction to One Point Perspective, Art composition and Creativity

November – How do you feel today?

Researchers found colours are able to spell or tell a variety of emotions ranging from joy and comfort  to hostility and anger. Today we discussed the types of emotions and the participants were given the task to choose their own colours to represent these emotions.  Against all norms,  participants were not pre-empt which  colour represents which emotion.

In addition to that, we incorporated a ‘fun-crafting factor’ by creating an ‘emotion cube’ to showcase the many colours and variants of emotions and  as a tool to express their feelings.

Learning outcome: types of emotions,  colour representations and what is a cube

November – Body Tracing Self-Portrait

Today our students worked in pairs to create self-portrait body tracings.
They were given large brown sheets of paper that were placed on the floor together with paints and rollers to create their masterpiece.

Our aim is to encourage working in pairs as well to allow students to explore the world outside of a plain white drawing block. It was nice to see students enjoying the freedom given, making the artwork their own, by the different colours they chose and how they decorated their self-portraits.
This activity allows students to be free to express their individual creativity.

Learning outcome: freedom of expression and space, team work, creativity

November – Peribahasa

‘Buat baik berpada-pada, buat jahat jangan sekali’. We started off with inviting everyone to give their input on the proverb. Next, we discussed its meaning and each related an example of a good deed. To help instil such positive values, the students were then tasked to plan and illustrate them in a comic format.

Most childhood education experts agree that building children’s character must begin from young, and best done in a fun, graphic and interactive manner. Besides developing knowledge and skills in executing the process of art, today’s activity also aims to instil positive values, gently guiding the children towards what’s right, and to work towards good value-based living.

Learning outcome: Instilling positive values in children, introduction to malay proverbs and the sampling process of comic illustration.

October – Kolam!

Deepavali is around the corner and what is Deepavali without Kolam/ Rangoli?- a colourful artform originating from India that symbolizes happiness and prosperity and commonly features geometric patterns, floras and faunas.

Colourful Kolams take centre stage at this time of the year in shopping malls, office complexes and lobbies of key buildings in the country and as welcome "mats" in homes ushering in Deepavali festivities for our friends celebrating the occasion. Using rich colours of blue, red, white, yellow, green and purple coloured rice, our students were on the floor, creating their Kolam; a testament to their own artistic flair and personal choice of subject matter.

This activity aims to improve hand to eye coordination, sensory skills and developing fine motor skills. Significantly this helps enhance and expose our students to another culture from the rich and diverse multicultural society of Malaysia.

Learning outcome: Sensory and fine motor skills with appreciation of the riot of colours engaged in Kolam making

October – 'Toy Story!'

Toys are an inseparable part of a child’s life as they play an important role in growth and development throughout the early phase of his/her life, and sometimes even into adulthood.

At today’s activity, we took a step further using familiar toys as subject matter to help increase our student’s awareness and skills in design composition- the skill of ‘placing’ parts of a visual (object and colours) and tracing them in an aesthetically pleasing arrangement
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Today’s activity also aims to improve hand to eye coordination and more importantly, exercise patience.

Learning outcome: Knowledge of Principles of Design; Balance and Composition, Improving Hand to Eye coordination, Patience in art.

October – Mask!

Mask making is part of pretend play. Children engaging in this activity will benefit from social, emotional skills and language. It can also help nurture imagination - a vital component in sharpening one’s creative problem solving skills.

Today, without providing templates, our students were given the freedom to design and explore mask making from scratch; from design planning, face measurement, mask design and painting.

Learning outcome: Developing coordination and fine motor skills, self-expression and nurturing imagination.

p.s. Selamat Hari Sukan Negara!