Water Collaboration

During Mind Move Make classes, we always start with two minutes of mindful breathing.  This gives the children a chance to relax, reset, rest their minds, and reconnect to themselves after a busy day at school.  In connection with our Central Idea, we are connected to the ocean in many ways, today I asked the students to bring their minds to the places in their bodies that are made of water   Before starting I asked them if they could think of any parts of their body that contained water.  We decided our eyes, inside our mouths, and our blood were all places that water exists in the human body.  During our mindful breathing time, I reminded them to think of these places and what they do for us.

We had a fun time during the movement part of our class today; we played Water Charades!  Students broke into groups of three, and I gave each group a type of water to act out together.  It was interesting watching them collaborate to figure out the best way to show a river, a waterfall, a lake, raindrops.  Each group performed their tiny movement pieces describing water, and the other group guessed what they became.  Actually, the students didn't want to stop playing the game because they were having such a great time!  

Three boys working together to create "raindrops" as a movement piece!

After that, it was time to start the art part of the class.  The students worked on Mini-Masterpieces!  They each created several tiny artworks describing different types of water.  This project gave them the chance to explore many ideas relating to water using several types of art media.  They used collage, oil pastels, watercolor paint, pencil, and markers to complete these works of art.  Here are a few of the artists in action, along with some finished pieces!

Under the Ocean

Today we started a new session for Mind Move Make: Under the Ocean!  During this session we will explore our Central Idea: We are connected to the ocean in many ways.  Through mindfulness, movement, and art we will investigate how humans are connected to these vast expanses of water that exist on planet Earth.

Before diving into studying the ocean, I wanted us to contemplate the concept of water itself.  I asked the students to think of as many forms of water as they could come up with.  How would you describe water?  What are some of the ways we experience, see, and feel water?  Together we came up with many interesting responses: rain, tears, blood, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, steam, ice, and many others!

Then we began talking about the percentage of water that exists within our own bodies.  In children, the percentage is around 65%.  Our bodies are more connected to water than we realize.

After talking about this, I asked all students to physically become water through movement.  They could move anywhere they wanted to throughout the classroom, becoming any kind of water they wanted to become!  Instantly, students began collaborating to become waterfalls, rivers, and rain.  A few students seemed a little overwhelmed by the thought of becoming any kind of water at all, so after a few minutes I guided them to become more specific types of water.

After channeling water through movement, we were ready to depict water through artwork!  I supplied the students with watered-down tempera paint in cool colors: blues, purples, and greens, plus white for tinting.  I also gave them tools to create texture within their paintings.  They jumped into creating watery worlds with paint!  Here are a few pictures of the students in action.