Every child is an Artist

As a Senior Syndicate, in Term 2 we have been doing Syndicate Arts as a way of making crafts for our School Market Day in Term 3. The Senior Teachers chose to do a range of different Arts and Crafts. Miss Shiriwastow chose to do Button Crafts. I know right, it doesn't sound exciting when you hear "Button crafts" but when done correctly, it is actually very fun and you end up with a great piece of Art work.  Below I have included a screen shot of my planning for the button crafts.

Firstly, to begin with the to motivate and inspire the children in my crafts group I showed them a You Tube video on different button art creations. The children were really mesmerised by the amazing creations that they saw.

Secondly, the children were then given an opportunity to plan their creations. They were to create an outline of their images on draft paper. Once they had done that, they could then draw the outline onto canvas and then choose buttons to create their masterpiece. This used problem solving because they had to think about the sizes they chose to fit certain areas of their images to create an effective piece of Art.

The students really engaged in the crafts and really enjoyed creating their pieces of craft. They were really proud of themselves on their finished products and so was I. Below I have included my lesson plan for my craft lesson. It is based on Learn, create, share cycle. The learn part is where the children learn a certain technique such as button craft. Create is when they use their creativity and create their pieces of button Art and Share is how they choose to share their work with others such as a video explaining the process of making a button art, share on their blogs etc.

Below I have included some photos of the children with their finished crafts. 

(Siale, Ida, Cerenity)

I believe Art and Crafts is an important part of children's learning and development. 

Creating art is a fine way for children to make choices and solve problems. Every step involves making a decisions: What colour to use, how to make a line, what size to make something. With every choice the object becomes more and more their own and children are able to take ownership of what they create using their imaginations. 

Everyone has an imagination. Art takes it a step further. Through art, children create something that, until that point, was only imagined. Thus, they create visual manifestations of abstract ideas.

Art is also good for children that find other curriculum areas difficult and are able to use Art as a form of expression. It is a way that children can express their ideas, feelings and solutions that they may not be able to express verbally or through writing. 

Kia Pai tamariki for your hard work in crafts! Your Artwork looks amazing!