
Thomas Hudson, The Radcliffe Family, about 1742. 126 in. x 174 in. Gift of the Berger Collection Educational Trust, 2019.7
Instructions:
- Have children practice posing their bodies at different levels (high, medium, low).
- Introduce the idea of a space bubble around their body so children practice keeping their hands and feet to themselves during this activity.
- Have children practice the different levels by asking them to make certain shapes.
- Make a low curvy shape with your body.
- Make a high pointy shape with your body.
- As children are making their shapes, call out what you notice. Ex: “I see low curvy arms.”
- Choose a work of art with a variety of figures.
- Ask children one at a time to pick a figure and stand like they are.
- Once a group of children are posed like the image, have the other children in the audience make observations.
Guided Questions:
- What do you see?
- If this person could say one word, what might it be?
- Where do you see different levels and shapes?
*This Creative Classroom Idea was written by Lauren Dennis, a collaborator in Early Childhood learning at the Denver Public Library.
TIP: You can also use this activity with books- choose one part of the story for children to make a frozen picture. They can also make a tableau of what happened before and after the moment you are focused on, supporting an understanding of sequencing in a story.
Related Creative Activities

Ten Times Two

A Portrait of One’s Own
After spending time exploring aspects of the Ancestor Portrait and the importance of ancestor portraits in the Chinese tradition, students will create an ancestor portrait using mixed media materials and present it to the class.

Combining Human and Animal Forms
Students will use visual observation skills to carefully examine the Assyrian Bird-Headed Deity limestone relief and explore the movement, sounds, and traits of different animals. They will first explore these aspects in humans and birds of prey, as seen in the limestone relief, and will then do the same with “animals” they create from two or more animals. This lesson enables children to draw upon previous knowledge and imagination in order to act out the movement, sounds, and other traits of the animals they create.

If You Give a Man a Horse
Students will read the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff, explore Charles Deas’ painting Long Jakes, and exercise their imaginations to create their own cause-and-effect story.

Let’s Make a Story
This lesson allows students to use their imaginations to identify, explore, and express their understanding of Sandy Skoglund’s Fox Games. They will discuss the imagery as a class and create a group story with each student contributing one sentence about the foxes in the installation.

Designing a Dish
Students will locate different symbols on the Chinese Dish with Eight Buddhist Emblems, then choose three of their favorite symbols to create on their own paper plate dishes.