Camp Creek Press

Well, I managed to miss Blog Action Day (topic: environment) due to a sick child. And I've missed a couple nights of sleep as well, so I'll try not to nod off while I write this.

The pile of trash up above isn't destined for the recycle center or even the garbage -- yet. First it's going to the art studio. Actually, this pile is destined to be part of an action-figure-scale Jedi temple.

After years of building with recyclables, I can no longer throw anything away without hesitating and thinking, Would this make a good steering wheel? bird beak? rocket fin? robot brain?

All of our clean, no-sharp-edges trash gets set aside for making models during projects, sculptures, toys, artwork, etc. Actually, once you have adopted this mindset, it's hard to ever look at a plastic cookie tray or mesh fruit bag the same way again.

Not only does this save things from the garbage and the landfill, but it saves money because you buy fewer art materials, so you saved the energy to make, distribute, and sell those items as well.

Of course, there's the added benefit that your children stop clamoring for sequins and googly eyes and instead start asking for more bottle tops and spaghetti sauce lids.

And eventually, when you are all done with the model/sculpture/toy/art you made, then it can be recycled. Or better yet, go to grandma's house.

For the seven years that I ran my private school, we had an art- and project-based curriculum. Soon after we opened, I discovered the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, and learning about their methods inspired and informed the remainder of our days in the classroom.

One of the tenets of the Reggio approach is that children deserve high-quality art materials.

Why buy expensive high-quality materials for children? They just burn through whatever you give them. Can we afford to buy them expensive paper, when they can produce 25 drawings in one sitting? And that sitting only lasted 20 minutes?

Giving children high-quality materials sends a message. It's not enough to say, "I think your work is important." If I give my children cheap paper and paint, what can they produce? Muddy-colored paintings that dry and flake off cheap, thin paper that tears easily. My mouth is saying "Your work is important" but the materials are saying "Your work is not important."

It's true that you can't just hand children a pile of expensive paper and a basket of high-quality markers and walk away without a backward glance. You need to convey your respect for the materials, and teach the children how to use them properly and put them away so they'll be good for next time.

The youngest children in our classroom -- just-turned three's -- were capable of washing out their paintbrushes and palettes and putting them away. Age is no excuse for not taking care of your materials.

It's also valuable to teach children that some kinds of drawings belong on "regular" paper (although the lowest-quality paper I can accept is copy paper -- not too expensive at 500 sheets for a few dollars). We use copy paper to make marker drawings, pencil drawings, mini-books, etc. We go through a great deal of it! But we also have watercolor paper, heavy paper for painting with tempera and acrylics, charcoal, and ink.

There are many steps to introducing high-quality materials and tools to young children and teaching them how to use and care for them. For now, I'll just say the following:

• High-quality materials convey to children that their work is important.

• High-quality materials inspire children to work more slowly and carefully.

• Children's important work deserves high-quality materials.

I could say much more! And I will .. in time. ;^)

The wider the range of possibilities we offer children, the more intense will be their motivations and the richer their experiences. (Loris Malaguzzi)

 
When we travel, the boys each get

• a fresh, new, smallish journal (one we expect they will nearly fill by the end of the trip)
• a pencil holder, preferably large with a zipper
• two regular pencils, a pencil sharpener (that keeps the shavings inside!), and soft white eraser
• a set of colored pencils
  
• pens (Pilot or Sharpie, in different colors)
• safety scissors
  
• glue stick
  

We have experimented with bringing rolls of tape, but it gets all linty and the boys end up using it to tape their entire heads or their arms or the car windows. Or all three. We've also experimented with bringing mini-staplers, but they jam so often that I spend all my time digging at them and we end up with little colored staples stuck in the floor.

The white erasers are far superior to pink or yellow rubber erasers at erasing thoroughly without making a mess. The boys are also fond of the traditional pencil-top erasers; if those are soft and new, they work well.

The trip journal serves many purposes.

It's the best, cheapest souvenir of any vacation. You can't look at that plastic back-scratcher and remember when your brother accidentally pulled the curtain rod off the wall at the Holiday Inn while your mother was changing into her bathing suit, but your childish HA HA scratching out of the story (complete with line drawing of mom's face) will forever dredge up that pearl of a memory, whole and complete.

It's something to do, either in the car or in the tent/camper/hotel room. When you're booorrrrrred, Mom can suggest you work on your journal. Every place we go, the boys are alert for free brochures and newspapers that they can cut up and glue into their journals later. This keeps their reflexes sharp. Sometimes they are barely in the front door before they are fighting each other to snatch up the free brochure on the counter, causing the sleepy person behind the desk to startle and shrink back in .. admiration for their enthusiasm, I'm sure.

They write and draw in their journals, paste in postcards and stickers, copy maps, play games, etc. For this latest trip, I sprang for Moleskine journals for each boy. The Moleskines are great for trip journals because they have a pocket in the back to hold random ticket stubs, postcards, etc. You can also just glue an envelope onto the last page of any old journal to provide a catch-all.

There are always blank pages at the end of their journals when the trip is over. I print out their favorite photos from the trip and they glue those in the back, usually adding their own captions.

The journals end up being a very truthful representation of their trip -- with a focus on what was important to them (meals) and not what was important to me (once-in-a-lifetime shared experiences). At one point during this trip I walked out of the laundromat at Yellowstone National Park wearing our hamper on my head, to the great amusement of the boys, who ran ahead of me to take pictures of this momentous event. An amused woman passing by said, "Ah, special vacation memories!" That's right. The things the boys will remember most about this trip were the pancakes we had at the Old Mill Inn and when I wore the hamper on my head. And both of those memories are in their journals.

Karrie from Girl on the Rocks is starting a week of weaving information about looms, patterns, and more. Check out her blog for great ideas about palm-sized looms and weaving projects.

For young children, you can't go wrong with a classic plastic pot-holder loom and a bag of nylon loops. This is the type we use with kids age 3 and up in the classroom and art studio.

The loom pictured up above was a heddle loom we used in the classroom. It is useful for weaving belts, skinny scarves, bracelets, bookmarks, and headbands. You can make your own heddle with popsicle sticks; maybe we'll show you how in another post.

For large weaving projects, or shared projects on which several children can work together, you can purchase large classroom looms for about $215. Or you can do what we did -- find a big, cheap wooden picture frame (thrift store, garage sale, junk shop, or clearance), drill holes along the top and bottom, and insert pieces of dowel rod you cut yourself. Total cost: approximately $4.00. We added a couple of pieces of wood at the bottom to serve as feet, strung it up, and we were good to go.

Of course, I have just looked through 500 pictures of the kids in the art studio and can't find a good picture of our loom in action. I will ask Leisa if she has one and post asap!

Read about it elsewhere:

Purl Bee: The Lure of the Loom

eloomination

eloominator blog

For a nice selection of plastic and wood looms, check out Dick Blick. Be careful: art supplies are just as enticing online as they are in person.

This is a picture of hands sewing, not weaving. I'll ask Leisa if she can find a picture of our homemade loom!

Enclosure

First, we browsed the junk shops and used furniture stores for cheap wooden tables. (Habitat for Humanity ReStores offer both used furniture and used building materials.) We paid $10 to $20 for each table.

Once we had them home, we cut the legs down to size so the height was appropriate for the age of the children using the table. (Measure the first leg, then hold it up against the others to make sure they match exactly.)

Purchase enough plain canvas (about $2 to $4/yard from any fabric store) to cover the table top. Be sure your fabric is wide enough to wrap around each side! Before you go to the fabric store, take a look at the edges of your table to see how much extra material you'll need. Simple table tops will only require four inches or so; tables with elaborate skirting will require more.

At home, center fabric on the table top. (You don't have to cut the material to size -- just leave the extra and you can trim it off later. You just need to make sure it's wide enough and long enough to cover.)

Using a staple gun, put one stable in the center of one side of the table, wrapping the material around and stapling underneath the table top. Stretch material and continuing stapling, finishing first one side, then its opposite side, then the final two sides.

The finished canvas-covered table is perfect for working with clay. The canvas absorbs excess moisture, and clean up consists of just brushing away extra dried clay pieces the next day. If your clay starts to become too dry, give the canvas a spritz of water.

If you don't have room for a whole table, you can cover a piece of chipboard or plywood cut to your desired size, and bring it out when you're ready to pinch, poke, and roll. Just be sure you lay a towel or other protective layer between your clay board and table to prevent scratching.