"The Girl With The Pearl Earring" #artcamp

I love introducing young minds to great concepts of math, literature and science.  Art holds a special place in my heart.  I love to watch children create something they are proud of.  I love to watch their little hands explore and mix colors, textures, and concepts.

Today, we recreated the masterpiece, "The Girl With The Pearl Earring," by 17th-century Dutch painter, Johannes Vermeer.  
We practiced saying his name.  We looked up where he lived on our beach ball sized inflatable globe from Mother Goose Time that the children LOVE!  (want to get kiddos interested in geography, by a blow up globe!) It was quite challenging for 2's and 3's to say, "Vermeer."  It comes out more like "wormer" (not exactly the same...but adorable!)

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Who wouldn't want to play with this?!  It just says, "Squeeze ME!"  "Ask questions about my colors!" "Play with me!" Seriously cute!!!

Our "Girl With The Pearl Earring" recreations turned out beautifully...

We received these amazing little stick on pearl earrings from Mother Goose Time, blue napkins for the servant's "scarf", brown paper bags for the brown scarf portion, some pre-cut ovals for the face, and black "canvas."  As I was placing the art in the center of the table for everyone to see, little minds were already at work making placement choices for the earrings, drawing eyes, and observing the servant girl's smile was "serious" and "sad" as one of my little ones described.  They wondered what she was doing??  "Is she mad??  Is she sad??" they surmised as we discussed the possibilities.

But we didn't stop there!  We extended the art into our Dramatic Play area with blue scarves and stick on pearls (from Mother Goose Time...btw, can you send me about 200 more?? Those were a MAJOR hit!!)

This little beauty NAILED "The Girl With The Pearl Earring" pose in this one. I was so glad I was right there to catch it!

Art comes to life!!

This little guy said, "I a PIWAT!!" (pirate)...he was adorable!!! Such a fun study!!

Just look at those little beauties!!  Think this lesson is making an impact??  I sure do!!!

One might wonder why even expose young children to great works of art?  Are they ready to appreciate it?  Do they care?  Why even bother??

This thought crossed my mind as I was laying out the month of July for our "Art Camp" theme with Mother Goose Time.  If you have read very many of my posts, you know that I love to introduce big concepts.  Children do have the capacity to understand when we take the time to show them that even big ideas come from simple beginnings.

"... when gifted kids solve problems in their areas of giftedness, there is increased electrical activity in both hemispheres.  It appears that for the brain to be efficient, the two hemispheres of the brains must work together.  By stimulating and exercising the right hemisphere of the brain, the arts strengthen the connection between the hemispheres. Kids should be exposed to the arts as their cognitive skills mature so that their right brain will be as developed as the left, and both hemispheres work in tandem, thus achieving the full potential of the mind."  http://www.raisesmartkid.com/3-to-6-years-old/4-articles/33-benefits-of-arts-to-kids

So...basically, if you want to raise smart kiddos, you must give them experiences in art that go beyond the crayons.  These must be significant and make an impression.  

The New York Center for Arts Education says:

• "Your kid learns to think creatively, with an open mind
• Your kid learns to observe and describe, analyze and interpret
• Your kid learns to express feelings, with or without words.
• Your kid practices problem-solving skills, critical-thinking skills, dance, music, theater and art-making skills, language and vocabulary of the arts
• Your kid discovers that there is more than one right answer, multiple points of view
• School can be fun – playing can be learning
• Your kid learns to collaborate with other children and with adults
• Arts introduce children to cultures from around the world
• Your kid can blossom and excel in the arts.  Even with physical, emotional or learning challenges, can experience success in the arts.
• Arts build confidence.  Because there is not just one right way to make art, every child can feel pride in his or her original artistic creations.
• Arts build community.  Schools with a variety of differences can celebrate the arts as one community." http://www.cae-nyc.org/www.cae-nyc.org/

And my favorite reason of all....because it makes them smarter!!  (I think I said that already.)

"Researchers from the Michigan State University have found a very strong correlation between childhood engagement in the creative arts and measurable success later in life. Children who were exposed to a wide variety of arts and crafts were more likely to create unique inventions that is worthy of patents, come up with ideas good enough to start a new company, or publish provocative papers on science and technology." http://www.raisesmartkid.com/3-to-6-years-old/4-articles/33-benefits-of-arts-to-kids

Big concepts, simple lessons, and amazing results.  All in a day of play at Woolsey Academy for Young Learners.  

As always, I wish you well and I hope you get to play today! - L