As I mentioned a while ago, I started a new monthly program focusing on creating art inspired by famous artists. For October, we focused on Jackson Pollock.
Once again, I created a short PowerPoint presentation about Pollock and his art. I decided to gloss over some of the more unsavory aspects of Pollock's life, though interested kids could certainly find these things out for themselves. I think abstract art is really interesting to kids because it raises a lot of questions in them. They seemed to like Pollock's work and style, though they had lots of questions about it.
After our presentation, we headed outside to do some action painting of our own. I spread out tarps and taped watercolor paper down in various spots, creating workspaces for each kid. I kept all the paint on a cart and had the kids choose just a couple colors at a time to work with. I monitored the distribution of paint, as I've found in the past that the kids don't really understand the concept of "a little goes a long way." The kids had a great time doing their splatter painting - we wore trash bags to protect our clothes and some of them took their shoes off to avoid accidental painting of them. The main issue we ran into was one of space - I should have spaced them further apart as there was a tiny bit of accidental splatter overlapping with some kids.
Overall, though, they had a great time and were thrilled with their end results. This was a very easy and fun program, one that could easily be adapted to an even younger age group.
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