With the new year I have decided to launch a new feature called Dadventure2G0. These are posts with a downloadable pdf to serve as a guide/aide to the adventure. If you use them I’d love both feedback and examples of how you used them. So with no further ado I present the first Dadventure2Go.
A few months ago I took my boys to Art Institute of Chicago armed with some pencils and sketchbooks. I received a lot of positive feedback on that Dadventure and figured this would be a great place to start. In preparation for this post we went back to the Art Institute this time we printed out a few copies of the Dadventure2Go: The Art Museum worksheet and a bag full of art supplies.
We have been studying polygons for math. So we headed to the modern wing of the museum to look at some abstract and cubist works. We spent a while looking at shapes and how the artists found shapes in their subjects and incorporated those shapes into their art. The best part of this exercise was when my wife and I stopped talking and just listened to the boys talk about the art in their own words. When kids are free to discover they come up with wonderful observations. You even begin to notice things about art that you have never seen before.
After we looked for a bit it was time to make some art. We gave the boys their worksheet, their clipboards, and various art utensils and let them go. It was fun to watch their creative process. It was interesting to note which parts of the works of art influenced them as they made some art of their own. As they began they started out with a lot of questions. We reminded them that art is expressive and that as you learn there is no right and wrong it is all creative expression. Everything became an experiment for them, right down to their signature as they completed their art. Here’s what they came up with:
If you want to try this Dadventure out at your local art museum feel free to download and use this worksheet:
(originally posted on DiaryDad.com.)