The importance of PLAY In art
Albert Einstein is quoted as saying "Play is the highest form of research" and I couldn't agree more. It is even my tag in my email. As an K-6 elementary art teacher, I try to create a culture of curiosity and wonder in our art room. I do this because I do not want kids to fear school or to see school as a place that is not fun. I want them to “want” to come to school. I want them to have a mindset of play and wonder. I want them to play with purpose. I suppose all play has a purpose, But, I encourage kids to play to learn. Research shows that when students are engaged in activities that are fun and meaningful to them, they become better learners. It's a mental shift. When you play, the fear of failure is diminished and risk taking increases. Seriously, have you ever watch a kids play a new video game?
What we do in the art room is designed to be fun, encourage risk taking and increase creativity. Most of the time when kids "play" in the art room, they are experimenting with materials or techniques. Some might look at this and wonder if there is any real learning happening at all. Trust me, there is. When a child plays, they aren't worrying about being the best or compared to others, they play together and they learn to figure things out together.
Some ways we play to learn are in the form of games/challenges.
There are several games we play that help kids look at things differently. We play a game called the shape challenge. Its a variation on several other games, but it works this way. I ask the kids to pair up. I give each student a piece of paper, folded in half. Each student draws a shape on the paper and then swap it with their partners, who need to turn the shape into something. Kids love seeing what each other has done.
Another game we play is called exquisite corpse. A student will fold a paper into thirds and fold it so only the top portion is visible. The first student would draw a head, making sure the two lines for the neck are drawn close enough to the bottom of the top section so the next student will use the two lines to draw a torso in the middle and then hand it to a third child to draw the legs. These are always very interesting drawings.
I have also created a drawing game using a spinner. 2 - 4 children play by spinning a cardboard spinner. Around the board are a variety of drawing prompts. If a students spins and the pointer falls on the section that saws draw 3 squiggly lines, the student draws three squiggly lines on their paper. This continues for four or five spins. The drawings look amazing.
Having these kinds of games available for students to play in the art room helps ease children into being expressive and takes the pressure off them in situations where they feel they have to perform at a certain level. A mind in a state of play is open to many possibilities.
What we do in the art room is designed to be fun, encourage risk taking and increase creativity. Most of the time when kids "play" in the art room, they are experimenting with materials or techniques. Some might look at this and wonder if there is any real learning happening at all. Trust me, there is. When a child plays, they aren't worrying about being the best or compared to others, they play together and they learn to figure things out together.
Some ways we play to learn are in the form of games/challenges.
There are several games we play that help kids look at things differently. We play a game called the shape challenge. Its a variation on several other games, but it works this way. I ask the kids to pair up. I give each student a piece of paper, folded in half. Each student draws a shape on the paper and then swap it with their partners, who need to turn the shape into something. Kids love seeing what each other has done.
Another game we play is called exquisite corpse. A student will fold a paper into thirds and fold it so only the top portion is visible. The first student would draw a head, making sure the two lines for the neck are drawn close enough to the bottom of the top section so the next student will use the two lines to draw a torso in the middle and then hand it to a third child to draw the legs. These are always very interesting drawings.I have also created a drawing game using a spinner. 2 - 4 children play by spinning a cardboard spinner. Around the board are a variety of drawing prompts. If a students spins and the pointer falls on the section that saws draw 3 squiggly lines, the student draws three squiggly lines on their paper. This continues for four or five spins. The drawings look amazing.
Having these kinds of games available for students to play in the art room helps ease children into being expressive and takes the pressure off them in situations where they feel they have to perform at a certain level. A mind in a state of play is open to many possibilities.
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