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A day of tasteful art

Arts & Activities, May, 2007 by Lauren McCann

In a time of fast food and pre-packaged lunches, children can become disconnected with what goes into their mouths. Following the Reggio Emilia approach to enhancing lifelong learning, we, as a class, set forth the task of understanding how our food is prepared by cooking and creating our own snacks. "How does this tie into an art activity?" you may ask. Read on and find out how we had a day filled with some very tasteful art.

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9:00-9:30: One day before, the students had been given a heads-up that our tasteful day was almost here. When the day arrived, they were all keen and excited to create ... and later eat! Our first activity of the day was to construct official chef hats for ourselves. Each student was given a choice of a precut rectangle and a large array of colored crayons. There was no set agenda as to what they were to draw, so their imaginations ran wild. Their names, however, had to be indicated in order for us all to place the hat to the student. When done, a few staples closed the rectangle, and a layer of glue around the top inside rim sealed a piece of tissue paper to top off our creation. Voila! We were ready to get to work.

9:10-10:00: Having already prepared the ingredients myself, we took turns mixing and adding ingredients to make our cookie batter. Each student was given a spoonful of dough and a few M&Ms[R]. On a piece of wax paper they were then at liberty to hand-mold their own cookie. (We made sure our hands were washed!) The students had to keep in mind that it could not be too thin or it would burn, too thick and it would not bake. With their M&M's they added touches of color to these yummy sculptures.

10-00-10:30: While our delicious sculptures were baking, we read Lucy Micklethwait's wonderful book, I Spy Shapes in Art (Harper Collins; 2004). The students were eager to find the shapes they recognized and commented on the works of art based on colors, at times referring to the shape they had just made with their cookie dough.

10:30-11:00 Our cookies were ready! One by one the students placed their work on a small plate and sat down for circle time. Each student held up his or her cookie and the class took turns interpreting the shape and envisioning objects, animals or people. Each artist then explained to the class what the shape was and why he or she created it as such.

11:00-11:15 Recess! Before the students were let loose, I sent them out with a task: our very own "I Spy" game. They were to come back to the class with ideas of the shapes that are seen in our playground.

11:15-11:30 "The tire is a circle!" "The sandbox is a square!" "What shape is the slide?" Our shape hunt was a success. Using various colored shapes, we spread out in pairs over the carpet and created patterns. This short activity allowed me the extra time needed to set up our next delicious activity using shapes and pattern.

11:30-12:00 Three colors of bread, various colors of sliced cheese, different slices of meat and a variety of shaped cookie cutters awaited each group. With our chef hats back on our heads, we were once again ready to construct. Cutting out a mixture of shapes, the students prepared small bite-sized sandwiches. These treats had to follow a pattern that was blocked off on either side by bread. For example, bread, yellow cheese, meat, yellow cheese, meat, bread. Students were given a container to hold their works of art. We were now building our chef portfolios: cookies and sandwiches. What will come next!?

12:00-1:00 LUNCH! We all ate our packed lunches, but we did not yet touch our creations!

1.00-1:30 As a class, we took a look at Giuseppe Arcimboldo's painting Summer. The class loved this painting. They recognized the various fruits and vegetables and the fact that the food was created to make a man. We made connections with what we had done today, using food to create sculptures, shapes and patterns.

1:30-2:00 Each student was then given a blank piece of paper. Keeping Arcimboldo's work in front of the class for all to see, the students set out to draw their own person out of food. When they had completed their work, the drawings were mounted around Arcimboldo's piece in our classroom. Then I filled them in on the big news. When the students heard we were going to make a person out of food as well, smiles were seen all around.

2:00-3:00 Using ideas from our own drawings, Arcimboldo's painting and our knowledge of pattern and shape, the students set out to create an apple person. We used an apple as the body, and grapes, cucumbers, raisins and marshmallows as added extras for the arms and legs. It does not need to end there. One could use cheese cubes, cauliflower or any other fruits or vegetables that can be penetrated with a wooden BBQ skewer. With our final sculpture complete, we sat as a class and introduced our creations to our classmates. We commented on how each apple person was created. It was agreed that everyone loved the hat on Alison's apple man.

A day of tasteful art

Arts & Activities, May, 2007 by Lauren McCann

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