Kimi's First Brush with Art!

Today is Kimi's first class with Teacher Maria. Wow, imagine we have been waiting since last year to get a suitable day & time! She is very packed with students!

Anyway, I went with a heavy heart as Kimi tends to 'stick' with me and not want to do anything if I am out of sight. Sometimes, he can be rather unco-operative and unwilling to try new things.

But, I was so suprised that he was completely 'at home' the moment he reached her place. She is rather patient and can handle kids well. Within 5 mins, they were chatting like old friends and I was able to 'disappear' into the living room.

Kimi more or less paced today's lesson. He had wanted to do a Dinosaur theme but Teacher M managed to persuade him to follow with today's theme. They were supposed to do a clown fish but Kimi insisted on a shark so Kimi and his classmate did that. Somehow, I knew that would happen cos the other boy, though slightly older, was not as assertive and vocal. It was just his voice throughout the lesson!! (*faint!*)

However, I am so proud of Kimi as he stayed in the room till the end of the lesson. I could hear him just talking and talking non-stop. I think Teacher M must be really tired out by him? She was sweating buckets at the end of class while explaining the lesson to both mummies.

For me, I was just so so glad that Jireh's mummy gave me this contact. Kimi enjoyed his art lesson so much and was looking forward to his next! :)

Today's lesson :-
Theme : Sea Creatures
Technique :

1. Use of large brushes to create large brush strokes. Teacher M said this is to train their muscles. Allow kids to draw/paint 'big' so that once they have better control, they can progress to smaller strokes and finally details.
2. First the kids are asked to paint the sea and she also explained that the sea is not made up of 1 solid colour but myriad. Hence the many colours. This makes for interesting understanding of colour mixes and hues.
3. Then they used leaves for stamping and finally using pencil to draw a shark.
4. Teacher M said that Kimi is very confident, independent and adventurous. (Wow! that did not occur to me!) Although her instructions were to brush long, heavy and large strokes, halfway through, Kimi would say he wants to dabble a little or use the brush this way, etc. She allowed him cos she said that is what art is all about - freedom.
5. I was really amazed by the shark!! Yes, he drew that!! I can't believe it. Of cos that was after some practice. She revealed that she first drew 1 for Kimi to see and allowed him to follow. He would come out with circles and wierd shapes. Then she would ask whether a shark looks like that. And they progress to a large oval and finally details. For example, she would tell him to move his pencil up when drawing the dorsal fin, etc. She would explain where each detail should be placed.

The Shark. I knew this was Kimi's cos he is always saying he needs to draw a smile. :)

The sea in myriad of colours! See the dabbing and finger prints and stamps? I shouldn't have placed the shark there...blocked up the beautiful ocean.