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Thursday 4 August 2011

Medieval Mayhem

It never amazes me how much creative thinking and how imaginative a child can get when provided with a few bits of recyclable objects to make a piece of art with. This week we have run a series of workshops for 5-11 years old, based on a medieval theme. The pictures on this blog are from our sculpture challenge workshop, where the children were divided into teams, given a black bag of recycled materials and challenged to build a large sculpture. The children thoroughly enjoyed the junk modelling, they love to explore how objects can relate to one another, how they fit together and can be manipulated - letting their imaginations run riot. This activity is great for fine motor skills, problem solving, team building and self esteem.
With the expert help and guidance of tutors Angela Ferguson and Zoe Greenland the children dived into the black sacks of recyclable materials in order to see which team could create the most original medieval themed sculpture. After several rolls of duck tape, cello tape and masking tape here are their amazing sculptures.
 Rummaging through the materials to select the best parts
 Our medieval dragon in the making, I love the use of the red fur for his tail and tongue
 How cool is this knight and fellow steed? unfortunately only one eye would stay on so the children decided that he was a one eyed horse.
 This amazing knight was made by a group of 5-7 year olds working in a team of 8. I was so impressed with the sharing of ideas and collaborative work that went into this project. Lots of giggles, lots of tape and lots of mess - what more could you want.
All the materials we used for these sculptures were collected by the staff or sourced for The Pyramid Resource Centre. This is a fantastic place that collect large companies waste and recycles it for schools, clubs and artists to use. For £5 you can fill a whole black bag up with recycled plastic, wood, fabric, card etc etc. The staff are very helpful and the shop is like an Aladdin's cave. If you are near Chafford Hundred I highly recommend have a look for cheap resources for large projects. Have a look on their website http://www.thurrockplaynetwork.co.uk/pyrc.html

2 comments:

Angela Ferguson said...

The workshops were a pleasure to run Lisa. The imagination and ability of the children we work with never ceases to amaze me!

Genevieve Rudd said...

looks like such an exciting workshop to be involved with, I bet you had just as much fun as the children!