“I wanted to start a revolution, using art to build the sort of society I myself envisioned” Yayoi Kusama It is the final week to visit Yayoi Kusama’s ‘Cosmic Nature’ exhibition at the New York Botanical Gardens. I visited this show in August, literally while a cyclone was brewing, and had an awesome time! I highly recommend it to families, especially if you can bring a picnic and make a day of it. Yayoi Kusama (b 1929), is one of the most renowned living Japanese artists. You may recognize her blood orange hair and pumpkins – they have been displayed in art museums all over the world (read more about her pumpkin obsession here). Nature has been a huge inspiration for Kusama throughout her entire life so it was a lovely fit to see her sculptures and installations exhibited at a botanical garden! The show, ‘KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature’ explores her…
Make a melting ice sculpture
Ice is such a fun material for kids to play with! It is easy to make and it changes form over time which means it is perfect for process-led art activities. In this post, I share how you can do your own melting ice sculpture at home with your little ones! Age range: 18 months + Preparation time: 10 minutes (ice needs to be frozen over night) What you need WaterSaltAcrylic paints or food coloringLarge Tupperware container or cake tin container to freeze iceLarge plastic tub or tray for kids to play with the ice inSmall containers (yogurt pots are perfect)Paintbrushes and kitchen utensils Additional equipment: Spray bottles for the paint, spice shakers, children’s toys to freeze in the ice and a camera to document the ice melting over time. Preparing the melting ice sculpture The night before you do the activity, freeze some water into the large Tupperware container…
Welcome to Art Play Children Learning
Hello, I am Dr. Louisa Penfold! I started Art Play Children Learning back in 2016 as a way to help parents do fun and meaningful art activities with kids. I currently work at Harvard University as a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Early Childhood Education. Check out the video below to hear what Art Play Children Learning is all about… This blog features ideas for how parents can integrate contemporary art into children’s lives. To find your way through the posts, I have created the following five directory sections: Kids art activities Family excursion ideas Tips for parents and teachers Amazing artists and educators Academic research A little about me Aside from nerding out on this blog, I also do some other things. I am originally from Melbourne, Australia but have lived overseas for many years. From 2015-2019 I was based in London while doing my PhD in art education. My doctoral research looked at…
Make an action painting
“A painting to me is primarily a verb, not a noun, an event first and only secondarily an image.” Elaine de Kooning, painter What is action painting? This activity shares how you can make your own action painting at home using paints, crayons, paper, and water. Action painting is when an artwork is by splashing, dripping, pouring, and squirting paint to a surface rather than carefully applying it with a brush (Tate, 2021). This process is associated with the Abstract Expressionism movement made famous by American artists such as Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Jackson Pollock. About this activity Written by Jessica Lam (Pedagogical Coordinator at the Forest of Stars preschool, Malaysia), this post shares how parents can do this process-led art activity at home with children aged 1 year and up. Jessica describes the process of action painting as similar to ‘dancing’ with the paint: “As the lightness…
Froebel’s Gifts and Isamu Noguchi’s Playgrounds
The folks at 99% Invisible have created some fab new podcasts and articles on the relationship between children, play and the material world. And because I am a massive nerd, I have created summaries of them to share with you! I highly recommend listening to the podcasts (links are included below) as they are entertaining, well-researched and only around 25-minutes long. Isamu Noguchi (design) and Shoji Sadao (architect). Moerenuma Park, Sapporo Japan. 1988-2004. ©The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / ARS Play Mountain: A podcast on the work of playground designer Isamu Noguchi Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was a Japanese-American sculptor, designer and landscape architect. After working for numerous years as a sculptor in New York, he came up with the idea to construct a ‘playground’ that had no rules or obvious way to play in it. Instead of having swings and slides, Noguchi wanted to the playground to…
Make a colorful light mobile
Make a colorful light mobile using repurposed plastic, wire, and a wooden stick!
The art of weaving: An interview with Katrina Sánchez Standfield
Fiber artist Katrina Sánchez Standfield’s giant textile sculptures take weaving to a whole new level.
Materiality, Creativity, and the Thinking Child conference
Photo: Experiments in Practice symposium at Tate Exchange. Image credit: Tate photography I am so happy to share that I will be one of the keynote speakers at the ‘Materiality, Creativity, and the Thinking Child’ conference next month (May 8-19, 2021). This online event has a fantastic lineup of early years specialists who will be presenting different talks, workshops, and panel discussions exploring the relationship between condition, creativity, and the material world. The conference is perfect for early years teachers and creative practitioners working with young children and families. I will be doing three events as part of the conference. The first is a talk titled ‘Materials as active participants in children’s learning’. This presentation is based on my paper ‘Material matters in children’s creative learning’ that was published in MIT’s Journal of Design and Science in 2019. I will also run two live workshops where participants will design their…
Make a cardboard assemblage
What is an assemblage? Assemblages are artworks made by gathering and constructing different materials and objects which are often scavenged by the artist from unusual places. This technique has been used by artists including Louise Nevelson, Robert Rauschenberg, Sarah Lucas, and Rosalie Gascoigne (pictured below). Assemblages are a great way for children to learn about composition, shape, 3D form, and texture. Young children can also develop their fine motor skills through handling tools such as plastic screws, paper clips, split pins, and scissors. In this post, I share how you can make an assemblage out of recycled cardboard at home! Rosalie Gascoigne, Lambing, 1991torn linoleum on plywood. 120 x 191 cm What you need to create your cardboard assemblage A large recycled cardboard box. If possible, source a few different types of cardboard such as correlated, paperboard, and food packaging.Split pinsMakeDo Cardboard Construction Kit. Purchase HERE.Paper clips. I brought jumbo…