Art activity and creative practice

Art Project to Help Students Read

This paper presents an exploration of an art activity that was done with the writer's students. The writer examines how the project benefited the children and the teacher, what the writer learned about the students and why hands on art opportunities are important in the school setting.

Recently I had my students develop a puppet story and put it on for other students in the school. I chose puppetry because it would allow the students to use their hands to create the puppet, the stage and any props they may need. In addition, it encouraged them to grasp and utilize the concept of story plot, climax and conclusion as they developed the play they wanted to produce for the rest of the student body.

The purpose of the activity is for students to use creativity and imagination to create puppets of their choice and create a stage from which to tell a story that they put together to go with the puppets.

This activity is important for brain development because it encourages a thought process from developing an idea to seeing it through to the end. It will also help in reading development as it encourages the understanding of developing a plot, a story line and a conclusion in a sequential order.

Writing skills will also be enhanced using this project as it helps to develop the above skills.

The materials needed for this project include paper mache materials, paints, cardboard, glue, pencils and paper, newspapers, scissors and fabric.

Steps for completion:

Decide what story they wanted to tell

Develop a story line, and conclusion

Determine what characters should be used to tell the story

Create the puppet characters

Build a stage

Decorate the stage

Rehearse the puppet play

Perform for student body learned that the students in my group were able to use their creativity to develop a fascinating and well thought out plan of action to delegate different responsibilities to meet time lines in completing projects. They organized their needs, chose students to complete each step and worked on it until it was done.

This activity benefited me in several ways. The first way is that I now know this activity is age appropriate. I also know that students this age are able to handle a complex, multi-step project and break it into steps.

The children learned that they were able to delegate responsibilities and work together as a team to produce an end result. They discussed each of their strengths, weaknesses, and desires as they determined who would be best suited for what step of the project.