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.
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