Thanksgiving Feast - Centerpiece Prep

What is Thanksgiving; and a feast? What is a centerpiece and where do we put it?  What does it mean to be thankful (or, what makes you happy?)? These are all questions we've been answering as we prepare for our school wide Thanksgiving Feast.  Inviting the children into the process of preparation for our feast is exciting and complex.  There are so many things that we are thinking about as we prepare.  Soon we will be chopping vegetables and making soup, but first we are working to create beautiful centerpieces that represent the languages that they know.

One of the first languages we chose to use was tempera paint.  The children have primarily used tempera at the easel and they had not yet mixed their own colors, so we wanted to offer a different experience/challenge.  With an added level of difficulty (holding the tube steady, adjusting brush strokes, etc.), the tubes also add 3D aesthetics to our centerpieces.  But, before we started painting, we had to create some new colors.  

To introduce color mixing, we invited Maxon, Sylvie, and C.C. into the studio, and we had prepared a tray of empty jars, primary color paints (plus white), and small brushes.  We encouraged them to start by mixing two colors to see "what happened" or how the second color changed the first one.  

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On Monday, November 18th, we invited other children into the process of painting the tubes and squares for the tempera inspired centerpiece.