My Many Colored Days

Well I do have a second to tell what my art class has been doing the last two weeks. I got the main idea from Princeton Online (early childhood art lessons section) and then I added my own twist. I decided to do 4 classes on book making, and this first take on it is based on Dr. Seuss' posthumously published My Many Colored Days. What's great is that, because of the late publication, it was illustrated by someone else. It was easy for the kids to clearly see the impact an illustrator has on a book (the look is dramatically different from our favorite Seuss titles.) I highlighted the roles of author (Dr Seuss), illustrator (each child), publisher (me), and bookbinder (also me.) I took them thru how each page has text & that they work with the author's words to make the picture. They learned how they can be creative while holding to the author's original words. It was a great meeting point between their artistic ambitions & their 5 year old fine motor skills. I recently did a class that involved some cutting that turned out to be intricate because their sketches for buildings- which I thought would be simple cityscapes- were actually quite involved, and they got a little ahead of themselves. That was where I truly saw that their vision for their work is grand, but their practical hands on skills don't quite match up just yet. For this book project, they spent 2 sessions on 14 drawings, and they really took it on with gusto. I can't wait to bind their books and put them into their hot little hands, presented as "My Many Colored Days"- written by Dr. Seuss, illustrated by You!(the work awaiting publication in their books)