The Refrigerator: Still Life

Last week it snowed (a lot) and the after-school program was cancelled most days. I really wanted all grade levels to try out the Kaleidoscope/Radial Design Project because I thought it was so fun. The 4th Grade Class needed something special to try, so I set up a Still Life of all the Red Objects I could find and told them to start by drawing what they saw, but then mix in some imagination into their drawings. Needless to say they drew for a little while but then really wanted to play with the objects. I attempted to go with the flow and try to get them to make up some sort of performance, but that didn't work to well. HOWEVER... I had my first successful critique. I grabbed all the drawings and got the boys to talk about them. When we were cleaning up the room, I asked if they learned anything and one boy said, "Yeah, I learned that a drawing can tell a story." Success!