Kingswells P3 Sculpture #1

Well, today is the day I take the Primary Three (7-8 year old) into the forest, to make some sculptures.
I take in my Andy goldsworthy "wood" book for a quick "show n tell" to get them thinking about the forest, the materials, the environment etc. Even the lovely Mrs Cameron thought his work was spectacular. I think the biggest impact was the fact he didn't use glue or nails to make his work!
We trooped into the forest (26 children and one teacher, one class helper and me) and found our spot to create.
Mrs Cameron really did help me in bringing together a plan, when there, I know I wanted the kids to make sculptures, but the teacher put order and structure to the "lesson" (valuable experience by no means!).
I'd gathered the group to talk about finding materials to make a sculpture with, about considering where they should build their sculptures, considering the placement of the materials, what sort of form the sculpture should take and the "group" (2 * 6 and 2 * 7) should agree how it should take shape...only to watch manic scrambling and running to grab any stick (some trees still rooted in the ground!). This is where the organised chaos kicked in. I thought it was great, just a blur of excitement, energy, determination, fun and questions..."Mr Thompson, Mr Thompson x3000).
I'd noticed that the helper and teacher were calm and ever present to the groups close to them, I on the other hand got sucked into the manic world of a 7 year old let loose in a wood. (and loved it!). I helped retrieve big sticks, stones, moss, identify bugs and seeds, advise on positions of logs etc.Some kids got stuck into the detail (adorning moss on the sculptures, as "seats") some kids just enjoyed scouring for wood and stone, some kids were natural leaders and organised the building and placement of the materials. It was quite fascinating to see the teamwork (some minor disagreements, and inter-team thieving, but on the whole, a very busy, productive, creative, informative afternoon!
The best part of the afternoon for me was the trip back to school, where all the kids were charged and excited, stating that they will all go back (some taking mums and dads) to add, or create new works in the woods and just generally be excited about being outdoors and thinking about nature! (it gave me a massive hearty smile, all the way home (I'd also stopped to create a wee "quick sculpture" (15 mins) to see if the kids notice it the next time I see them).
A brilliant day indeed.


Listening to : OM - conference of the birds : scorn - gyral