OBJECTIVES

 to develop imagination
 to make the pupils aware of painting
 to enrich their techniques

SKILLS

 To choose one’s tools and materials according to the envisaged goal.
 To mix colours.

MATERIALS

 Materials found in nature : pieces of wood, pine cones, lamb wool, moss, acorns, stones, leaves, snail shells… - Gouache of various colours.
 Paintbrushes and cups .
 Props (white sheets of paper)

REFERENCES

Sculptures and prints by Marie-Thérèse Herbin

PROCEDURES

1) “ If Iwere a garden "

Search for documents, productions, drawings, , referents but also for words to continue the sentence.

 From what has been found : in small groups of 4, children talk, express each other, exchange, and imagine. - In the paths, gardens, fields, forests near the school, collect ‘natural » tools.
 Approach the works of artists.

2) Use two « natural tools » and black colour to read prints better.

 Add details in blue colour (not compulsory). Blue was asked by some pupils to finish their sketches. As an unusual colour, it allowed them to make their project a reality, that is to say to make the garden which they were translating.

ASSESSMENT

The children have been able to realize and to interpret their production, but also to focus on their comrades’.

They have also been able to discover the richness of the possible traces of colour.

It is an intense moment of sharing and self-confidence in one’s capabilities

FOLLOW UP WORK

 Creation of a referent to sum up the various possibilities of uses for each tool.

 Creation of a collective work from the various techinques used :making of a giant white parasol, draped, in relief, on which the children’s interior garden is slowly built. Use of natural tools, with 3 colours : mauve, green and blue) and of snail shells.

ASSESSMENT

It will deal with the child’s ability to :

 inspire from reality without copying it.
 embrace and appreciate what seems « different » at first.

Christine Vandenhooft, student in Science of education, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve Belgium.