As we continue our journey to "remember the outdoor classroom", we invited the children to think about their idea to create a model of the rope swing. Many of the children suggested clay as a material for creating the tree. There was a lot of enthusiasm around this project, and when the group (George, Eliza, and Will) came together to determine how to create the trunk, we had to do some brainstorming and problem solving: 1. What techniques do we know for creating something tall out of clay? 2. How do we make it tall enough to hold a model rope swing? 3. How do we work together to make one tree, not three? 4. How will people know it's a tree? After some experimentation and debate, the children decided to use armature to create a hollow trunk for the tree. **Unfortunately, there are no photos of this process because everyone involved had their hands in clay.** The next day, a new group of children volunteered to make the branches! Again, we discussed possible techniques, and they all agreed that rolling coils/pinching coils would make branches. Many, many times we referenced the lines of the branches that we can see from the Rainey Room window -- branches are NOT just straight lines: "It's curvy." - Win "It's zig zag." - Pierce The tree as greenwear (dried clay that is not yet fired). The tree as bisque -- fired once without glaze. What's the tree without a rope swing?Over the past two weeks, Melanie has been working with children to explore braiding and rope twisting techniques. They also worked on tying knots because the bottom of our rope swing is a HUGE knot. Today, we added our rope swing to the tree.
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April 2024
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