 |
| Christmas Theme - Dec 2014 |
Friday, 6 February 2015
Dec 2014: Christmas theme
Thursday, 5 February 2015
Jan 2015: Tatput Warli
Tatput Warli is my class's experiment on Warli art. Since this art uses basic shapes, it was very easy for the 5 old's to pick up this style. We added our own touch by making it colourful. (as opposed to the original art).
 |
| Warli Class work |
 | ||
Warli Bookmarks
|
The Warlis are an indigenous tribe or Adivasis from Western India. Their extremely rudimentary wall paintings use a very basic graphic vocabulary: a circle, a triangle and a square. The ritual paintings are usually done inside the huts. The walls are made of a mixture of branches, earth and cow dung, making a Red Ochre background for the wall paintings. The Warli use only white for their paintings. Their white pigment is a mixture of rice paste and water with gum as a binding. They use a bamboo stick chewed at the end to make it as supple as a paintbrush. The wall paintings are done only for special occasions such as weddings or harvests.
The lack of regular artistic activity explains the very crude style of their paintings, which were the preserve of the womenfolk until the late 1970s. Then, this ritual art took a radical turn, when Jivya Soma Mashe and his son Balu Mashe started to paint, not for any special ritual, but because of his artistic pursuits. Warli painting also featured in Coca-Cola's 'Come home on Diwali' ad campaign in 2010 was a tribute to the spirit of India’s youth and a recognition of the distinct lifestyle of the Warli tribe of Western India.
----
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Animals from the stories we read
There is no dearth of animal stories for children. We read them all the time. We managed to draw quite a few too. Here is a collage of what we did this month.
- Rupa, the Elephant
- The Sly Fox and the Red Hen
- The two stubborn goats
- Prakash, the peacock
 |
| Animals |
Stories: Food for Brain & Soul
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” – Albert Einstein
This quote, by my favourite genius, validates my belief in stories as a wonderful tool for overall development of children (well rounded intelligence).
Food for Brain:
The definition of intelligence is controversial. When two dozen prominent theorists were asked to define intelligence, they gave two dozen, somewhat different, definitions 1.
Thefreedictionary.com says, intelligence is the ability to acquire, understand, and use knowledge;
Wikipedia says, Intelligence has been defined in many different ways such as in terms of one's capacity for logic, abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, communication, learning, emotional, knowledge, memory, planning, creativity and problem solving;
The controversial Theory of Multiple Intelligence picks nine abilities that characterize intelligence: musical–rhythmic “Musical Smart”, visual–spatial “Picture Smart”, verbal–linguistic “Word Smart”, logical–mathematical “Number/Reasoning Smart”, bodily–kinaesthetic “Body Smart”, interpersonal “People Smart”, intrapersonal “Self Smart”, naturalistic “Nature Smart”, Existential “Spiritual intelligence, moral”.
There are many more definitions. However, the idea of this post is not get into the semantics.
Whatever definition you choose to pick, reading/listening to/narrating stories help stimulate the different aspects of intelligence. Stories provide a wonderful platform to introduce and reinforce a range of ideas, information, morals, history and cultural awareness, language, thinking Styles (logical, practical, creative, Relational)2 and lot more. Till the age of 6, a child’s mind is like a sponge that absorbs anything you pour in. What matters is the way you pour it in. You could dole out information plainly or you could spin a story around it. We all know that the brain remembers and works better with association. Stories help build that association.
Here is an example: An information is conveyed to a 5 year old in two formats:
(a) Blood gushes from your heart to every part of the body. The heart has four chambers.
(b) Hemo and globin were two friends who lived in the red river of blood. They loved swimming together and exploring different parts of the body. They would go to the gooey brain and then to the dry toe skin, they would go to the fluffy lungs and next to the shiny eye. Wherever they went, they always came back home, to the heart. The heart had four rooms...
Which version do you think they like? Which version do you think they would remember after a month?
Food for Soul:
When children go through a rough patch, some of us parents get into the advisory mode. We tell children how to behave and how not to. Though these vocal warnings and encouragement helps once in a while, what is far reaching is that which is not said. Stories have the wonderful capacity to heal (especially, the ones that are not preachy). The right story at the right time can be extremely uplifting. If your child is upset because he has not scored well in an exam encourage him with the Hare and tortoise story: remind him of the importance of hard work and being consistent to achieve their goal. The same story can be used to playfully warn a child who is over-confident and hence lazy. The mouse in The Gruffalo shows how, with a calm mind and a sharp wit, he escapes all his predators. Aesop’s Fables, Panchatantra and Jataka tales are wonderful moral and behavioral stories, which subtly teach children how the world is and how to cope in it. If you want to help your child though something, try telling a story instead of giving advice. If you cannot think of one, make one up! I assure you that even during adversity, the right story can help build a confident, courageous, compassionate, righteous, hardworking, witty and most importantly happy child.
The most significant feature of a story is its power to touch hearts. This makes the impact lasting! Be it being number savvy or being compassionate, exposure to good stories can help build wonderful children and a wonderful society.
This quote, by my favourite genius, validates my belief in stories as a wonderful tool for overall development of children (well rounded intelligence).
Food for Brain:
The definition of intelligence is controversial. When two dozen prominent theorists were asked to define intelligence, they gave two dozen, somewhat different, definitions 1.
Thefreedictionary.com says, intelligence is the ability to acquire, understand, and use knowledge;
Wikipedia says, Intelligence has been defined in many different ways such as in terms of one's capacity for logic, abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, communication, learning, emotional, knowledge, memory, planning, creativity and problem solving;
The controversial Theory of Multiple Intelligence picks nine abilities that characterize intelligence: musical–rhythmic “Musical Smart”, visual–spatial “Picture Smart”, verbal–linguistic “Word Smart”, logical–mathematical “Number/Reasoning Smart”, bodily–kinaesthetic “Body Smart”, interpersonal “People Smart”, intrapersonal “Self Smart”, naturalistic “Nature Smart”, Existential “Spiritual intelligence, moral”.
There are many more definitions. However, the idea of this post is not get into the semantics.
Whatever definition you choose to pick, reading/listening to/narrating stories help stimulate the different aspects of intelligence. Stories provide a wonderful platform to introduce and reinforce a range of ideas, information, morals, history and cultural awareness, language, thinking Styles (logical, practical, creative, Relational)2 and lot more. Till the age of 6, a child’s mind is like a sponge that absorbs anything you pour in. What matters is the way you pour it in. You could dole out information plainly or you could spin a story around it. We all know that the brain remembers and works better with association. Stories help build that association.
Here is an example: An information is conveyed to a 5 year old in two formats:
(a) Blood gushes from your heart to every part of the body. The heart has four chambers.
(b) Hemo and globin were two friends who lived in the red river of blood. They loved swimming together and exploring different parts of the body. They would go to the gooey brain and then to the dry toe skin, they would go to the fluffy lungs and next to the shiny eye. Wherever they went, they always came back home, to the heart. The heart had four rooms...
Which version do you think they like? Which version do you think they would remember after a month?
Food for Soul:
When children go through a rough patch, some of us parents get into the advisory mode. We tell children how to behave and how not to. Though these vocal warnings and encouragement helps once in a while, what is far reaching is that which is not said. Stories have the wonderful capacity to heal (especially, the ones that are not preachy). The right story at the right time can be extremely uplifting. If your child is upset because he has not scored well in an exam encourage him with the Hare and tortoise story: remind him of the importance of hard work and being consistent to achieve their goal. The same story can be used to playfully warn a child who is over-confident and hence lazy. The mouse in The Gruffalo shows how, with a calm mind and a sharp wit, he escapes all his predators. Aesop’s Fables, Panchatantra and Jataka tales are wonderful moral and behavioral stories, which subtly teach children how the world is and how to cope in it. If you want to help your child though something, try telling a story instead of giving advice. If you cannot think of one, make one up! I assure you that even during adversity, the right story can help build a confident, courageous, compassionate, righteous, hardworking, witty and most importantly happy child.
The most significant feature of a story is its power to touch hearts. This makes the impact lasting! Be it being number savvy or being compassionate, exposure to good stories can help build wonderful children and a wonderful society.
1 - From "Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns" (1995), a report published by the Board of Scientific Affairs of the American Psychological Association.
2. http://www.susieweller.com/brain.html
2. http://www.susieweller.com/brain.html
Sunday, 1 February 2015
Benefits of Interactive Storytelling
Any form of storytelling is good for children. That said, according to me, interactive style is the best.
Involve the child. Ask them questions : What do 'you' think will happen next? Was what happened good or bad? What should the character do now? What should he have done? What do you think is the morals? etc. While repeating an old story, stop mid sentence and wait for the child to complete it. You can even test their attentiveness and understanding by saying something completely wrong/different. Their reaction will reveal the truth.
Such interaction will helps us
1. Hold their attention better
Constant interaction will helps us understand the child's style of thinking. What would 'you' do in this situation? what do 'you' think will come next? Is what happened right or wrong? Children's answers to such questions will make us laugh at times and at times will make us stand up, think and reevaluate our beliefs. It will give us insights into their natural abilities, interests, morale, memory capacity and much more.
4. Stimulate their minds
Involve the child. Ask them questions : What do 'you' think will happen next? Was what happened good or bad? What should the character do now? What should he have done? What do you think is the morals? etc. While repeating an old story, stop mid sentence and wait for the child to complete it. You can even test their attentiveness and understanding by saying something completely wrong/different. Their reaction will reveal the truth.
Such interaction will helps us
- hold their attention better
- check if they have understood what was intended
- understand their way of thinking
- stimulate their minds
1. Hold their attention better
Attention span of kids is very short. Keeping them involved by asking questions will help them tune back in whenever they wander off. Having said that, there will be times when they may seem distracted, but are actually listening. Asking questions will help you check if they indeed distracted.
2. Validate Information
While telling a story, the child might have misunderstood parts of it. There can be many reasons: we might have struggled to express an idea or the child's mind might have wandered off while we were explaining something important. Interacting while narrating will help us validate right information and correct their wrong notions. .
3. Understand them better
While telling a story, the child might have misunderstood parts of it. There can be many reasons: we might have struggled to express an idea or the child's mind might have wandered off while we were explaining something important. Interacting while narrating will help us validate right information and correct their wrong notions. .
3. Understand them better
Constant interaction will helps us understand the child's style of thinking. What would 'you' do in this situation? what do 'you' think will come next? Is what happened right or wrong? Children's answers to such questions will make us laugh at times and at times will make us stand up, think and reevaluate our beliefs. It will give us insights into their natural abilities, interests, morale, memory capacity and much more.
4. Stimulate their minds
The younger the child, the more independent his/her thinking is. Children are capable of out-of-the-box thinking at a very young age. Questioning them inspires them to think deeper. To build creativity, lateral thinking, better articulation of ideas or just simple clear thinking, we need to probe them frequently.
Believe me, we have so much learn from them, if alone we are willing to QUESTION and LISTEN.
Believe me, we have so much learn from them, if alone we are willing to QUESTION and LISTEN.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)