Dance, drama, story writing, visual imagery and animation facilitate exploration of Easter Symbolism over a four week Creative Arts Theme.
Easter is a time of celebration and as such lends itself to many well integrated themed Creative Arts Units. This four-week theme will be published as short descriptive articles. They will fit together like a conversation about the magic of the Easter Celebration.
There will be
- dance,
- drama,
- story writing,
- visual imagery
- animation.
Dance.
Some of the stories developed as dance will be about natural situations like the birthing of a butterfly. The children will work through movement in teams. They will develop the themes to culminate in an enactment of their ‘hatching.’
Visual Art
Other stories brought to life in workshops will be totally fictitious. An example is the “Chicks Do Tricks Wall Mural” ©Busywomen This will be facilitated by a brainstorming process with the participants. This mural will be an example of the use of Digital Muraling techniques within a fully inclusive classroom.
Story Writing.
The intention is to unveil the mural for parents at Easter. It will be accompanied by enactment of the story the students create.
Animation.
So that the art work is manageable and not too daunting the simplest form of animated gif can be used. It is then possibl;e to assemble these into a larger moving image on a large external hard drive. The animation will be devised from simple animated gifs the students create. These moving (fluttering) images can then be superimposed over a static or perhaps slightly changing background and accompanied by original music. The music is also an area of creativity and improviational possibilities for the students. The animated gif is a proactive way of showing children and parents the potential of the animated medium
So that there will be something for everyone in this smorgasbord of Easter delights there has been an emphasis on the symbolic traditions of Easter.
Inquiry Into Easter Symbolism (Multi Cultural)
“What is Palm Sunday?” Is intended as an investigation of the symbols that are associated with Easter. What at first take appears to be a Christian inquiry can be about tracking symbolism throughout other cultures? Children/students and their families can compare and contrast how the same symbols occur in other cultures and how and when they are used.
As the articles are created, I will turn some of the images into coloring pages so that you can download them to use with your classes.
How we turn work into coloring pages is also a topic worthy of an article.
If you have feed back about these lessons I would be appreciate your input. If you have images you would like to share please post them to the discussion boards or email them to me and I will upload them for you.
If you are looking for other Easter Activities
