March 02nd, 2023

MOOD BOARDS

After multiple 3D construction explorations (e.g. with clay or paper), this week we began to shift the focus to the interior of our finished house projects:

What do we want the interior to look like? 
What do we want to feel like when we're in our house? 
What kind of furniture/wallpaper/accessories would we like in our house?

To further support the children in this process, we introduced the concept of design or mood boards. The children's first reactions to examples we provided focused on identifying the creator's preferences or even personality by analyzing the colors and item choices. In the slide show below you can find some of their initial reactions and thoughts around the mood board examples:

Together we discussed which term we would prefer for our collages, DESIGN board or MOOD board.

Design...
Design means make something you really like. - Cate
Like a blue print. - Hugh
Design is not really like a pattern. Colors that look really good together. - Remy
Like designing your own thing without help. - Wilder

Mood ...
... like what are you acting like. - Remy
... angry or sad. - Wilder
... happy, joyful. - Michael

After a large group discussion and a group vote, we decided we will call our collages MOOD BOARDS!

When everyone hears it (the word mood board) they understand the feelings. When you look at your collage, you remember what you were thinking about and what you were feeling when you made it. - Finlay

We began creating our own mood boards this week!

If you happen to have any design or architecture magazines at home and would like to donate them to support the children and their work, feel free to bring them in any time. Thank you :)

When searching for, collecting and deciding on pieces for their mood board, the children considered their personal preferences, such as their favorite color, favorite animals, or environments they enjoy spending time in. Many of them shared how certain textures or colors influence their mood or how they feel. Being in a cozy, yet organized and neat environment tended to make them, and especially Saul, Hugh and Frannie, feel warm and happy.  We invite you to come in the classroom and check out the children's very detailed and thoughtful  mood boards, which will be displayed above the studio tables. 

“I found something. I like the tree because it has the colors that I like. Black. I love spoons and the grapes. Because they remind me of black. 
And I want pizza! I like pizza. (top right corner)
I like working with paper. (while cutting out pieces for his collage)
I wanna have a sink in my bathroom. (bottom right piece)
It reminds me of water. (printed blue letters)
It’s in the mountains. Mountains look like sky. (pointing to the sky above the blue house)” - Jack


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Jack's Mood Board

Cape's Mood Board

“I want to see the weather so I know when it’s good to walk outside. I need windows. And I can spy on other people’s buildings. I want a backyard (view of the backyard behind the pool). 
I want this chair so I can lay down. And a lion is laying on it. ( included his favorite animal)
This is Egypt (brown hills and palm trees). My house is in Egypt because it’s my favorite country and I can go to the valley of the kings and I can see if I can find more pharaohs. 
I need stairs. I want it to be a big house. I really like having big houses so I can run around inside it. I like to climb onto the shelves. The chain is for swinging. (interest in physical movement and open space).
And I love having doggies in my house. They run, run, run and I love to pet their fur. They love me. I wanted them to be like Sweety (his lovie). I love furry things.
This is the roof (top left). You can see the rest of Egypt. That is Africa. This is Egypt (marks Egypt's location on the photo of the earth).” - Cape​

Hugh's Mood Board

“It kind of reminds me of my house because I have the same kinds of cabinets. It does make me feel good. It makes me feel like summer because look at the door. 
It’s a nice house. An organized house. I got food, plates, a sink. 
I like how they’re kinda like criss-cross (lamps). 
I have a tub and I have another tub for cleaning a dog. Maybe I’ll have a dog. I like the colors (pale blue and pale green). I would feel happy (in this house).” 
- Hugh

In the end, he added numbers to indicate how many of each item he would need for his actual house. ​

Saul's Mood Board 
(Version 1 and 2)

“I have the exact same pole at my house. It’s holding things up. (wooden board)
(the rainbow colors) It makes me feel like I’m outside in the rainbow. I like being outside. 
I chose this as a kitchen. I like that it’s organized and clean. I like clean stuff. It makes me feel that I don’t have to work and I don’t like to work. 
This is a house for 10 people. It’s all cozy and warm. I need a fire! I like to be cozy at home. It has a couch and another couch for kids and pillows and a cup and food on the table and a cat and a blanket and another couch for kids. 
Mine is in the mountains, too (like Jack’s mood board), where it’s cold so I put lots of cozy things in.” - Saul​​

front of Saul's Mood Board

back of Saul's Mood Board

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“It makes me feel cozy. I like cozy things. I like wood. My home is full made out of wood. It makes me feel warm. I like it just brown. Brown makes me feel warm. And blue and red are my favorite colors. I have pretty browns.
I really like birds. My favorite bird is an owl but my second favorite is blue jays.
I want a pool because it’s warm. Warm water. It’s all cozy and warm. I like having warm stuff around me. It makes me feel good. And I like having fun (swimming in the pool). When I’m cold I don’t feel good. 
These pictures remind me of the universe and I like the universe (frames photos).
I like bagels. Don’t you like bagels? I love them. One of my favorite things, especially with cream cheese on it. I like eating. This is making me hungry. Will we have snack soon?” - Saul

front of Saul's Mood Board

back of Saul's Mood Board

Frannie's Mood Board

I like pink and I like to get my nails painted (chooses pink couch and wine bottles as nail polish bottles). I would love it. It makes me happy. Louise would love it,too because we both love pink.
It reminds me of the ocean in Martha’s Vineyard (blue designs). I’m there with my cousins, Betty and Alice. Louise is the same age as Betty and I’m the same age as Alice. My house is gonna be on the beach.
I like how decorated it is (light fixture). 
I like to dress up. It’s gonna  be a bedroom (adds shelving with clothes on it). 
It’s a folded blanket (folds a cut out blanket in half before gluing it on top of the bed). Because it’s nice and neat. I don’t like stuff that is messy. 
I like this castle. I like the fancy decorations. I like gold and shiny.  - Frannie
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front of Frannie's Mood Board

back of Frannie's Mood Board

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​Outdoor Classroom Update

We have been loving the warmer weather in the past few weeks during our time in the outdoor classroom! Lately, the children have been very interested in playing large group games, like hide and seek or soccer. Today we would like to share the rules for some of our favorite games with you:
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Hide-and-seek

Someone counts, like 1,2,3,4,5,6 probably for 8 minutes, a little long and short time. You close the eyes. You have to hide in the cabinet or you have to go under a table and you have to squish. Squishy. You don't want to get touched. So you try to get a good hiding spot. I like to hide in certain places with other people. Remember the grill, we were hiding there. Me and Saul and Jack and he only said "Found you Jack" and me and Saul were the last ones. That was so silly. He didn't find us. Jack had to get out of there and then we meet at the picnic table. I need to run, when he says "Ready. I'm good. I'm gonna find you." And I need to find a hiding spot. I hide every day in the same hiding spot, behind the grill. Sometimes I hide in the cob house. I like being seeker because I like found everyone at one time. It was so fun. It's like one favorite game, my real real favorite game. - Luke 

​Stuck-in-the-mud

Somebody is the tagger, someone who hasn't had a turn. When the tagger tags you you're stuck. You have to open your legs and freeze and when somebody goes under you, you can keep running. The tagger tries to tag everybody. And then they win. I like being the tagger because I like tagging people. You just run. You have to be a fast runner. - Lily

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Soccer

Just kick the ball and try to make a goal. - Michael

First you have to spread out the team and then the referee, someone has to throw the ball into the field. Then which team gets the most points is the winner. You have to make the most goals. You have to kick the ball into the net. We use benches for the net. It's not easy. Like it's hard to make a goal, you don't make a goal right when the game starts because like the other person could take it from you when you're about to make a goal but you couldn't because the other person took it from you. It's out of bounce when it gets kicked way out of field, you have to start over with a new part of the game. The referee, they're supposed to throw the ball in and stuff. - Cate

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As a staff, we have been discussing adding a new and exciting element to our outdoor classroom: 
a slack line! 
Together with the children we have been exploring the new equipment and tried out a potential place for it for the future. The children quickly turned it into a fun and challenging climbing game in which they tried to move their bodies along the slack line to reach the far end of it.  This provided a wonderful opportunity for us to explore our muscle strength and coordination.
​We are excited for it to be installed soon!

Finlay had the idea to use slow-motion videos to see our body movements in a different way: