Our project this week at Southwark followed the theme of Halloween. We acknowledge that some kids do not celebrate this day, so we just emphasized creativity as the key to making this activity as fun as possible. Brown paper bags have a huge amount of possibilities when it comes to art, especially fall themed. We decided it would be most interesting if we had the students create their own fall/ Halloween themed paper bag craft. We provided supplies from pipe cleaners, to googly eyes, to string. Most of the kids went with the Halloween theme and created paper bag monsters, witches, or pumpkins. Others created what they were dressing up for as Halloween, such as cats, and one student even made a bag with handles to carry candy. At the end of class, we passed out candy to the students for their hard work and as an encouragement to keep it up.
The creativity of the students always surprise me. It’s always interesting to see which projects work out better for the different age groups and personalities. We also try to discuss what they would like to do in the upcoming weeks and what they would like to learn. The two classes this year are more interested by science related activities, but many of the students want to learn how to draw portraits. I love that they are looking for challenging things to learn, not just something to pass the time.
