During a session early in the year a child used a plastic egg, plastic googly eyes, and a wooden spool to sculpt a little figure with a poignant expression. A bit uncertain socially, she seemed to have made a self-portrait. Through the year she blossomed socially in ArtBreak and extended this experience to her classroom, playing with others at recess and getting herself elected to the student council.
Children talked about the social aspects of ArtBreak:
“We make new friends.”
“We learn to be creative and be a good sport . . . we support each other.”
Teachers commented about gains in social skills:
“He is a natural leader. This can sometimes be a good or not-so-good thing. ArtBreak gave him an opportunity to hone those positive leadership skills.”
“Above all, he benefited most from ArtBreak. He has friends, has been accepted/celebrated for his art abilities, and is, overall, more confident and embraced by his peers.”
“He handled recess better, was able to join in play with others more easily.”
“Every child looked forward to ArtBreak, especially ________. She felt part of a group and gained self-confidence as a result.”
PROBLEM SOLVING AND COGNITIVE SKILLS
I have noticed that children master the technical skills they need to accomplish their purposes in ArtBreak mostly by doing, observing the results, and re-doing. When asked what they learned they talked about skills:
“We learn about tools, what you can make with them, being careful with them.”
“I learned how to make a robot, how to sew.”
“You use your thinking, you think about what you make.”
“If your paint gets kind of dry, you can draw and scratch things in it.”
In How Learning Works, Susan Ambrose and her co-authors describe process tasks for developing self-directed learners. This takes place in ArtBreak through choice and problem-solving questions. The steps are
A third grader who enjoyed constructing animal figures with small boxes found it of great importance to have his projects turn out exactly as he envisioned, and sometimes the scope of his concept was way beyond the spatial-thinking skills of an eight-year-old. I respected his firmness in making his own decisions about designing, measuring, and cutting, holding my tongue (with difficulty) when I was bursting to intervene with corrections. Nevertheless, he persisted, sometimes retreating to a chair outside the door to collect himself when his frustration became too great, but always returning to try again. A child stayed after a group one day to finish painting a collage of a snowman on a huge sheet of blue paper ornamented at the bottom with pink paper and duct tape. When he finished he stood close to me and told me quietly: “My parents are amazed that I make these things. They say, ‘How did you make this?’ And I get out stuff and I show them.”
Problem solving the construction of a doorknocker for a cardboard house takes ingenuity. Photo by Josh Birnbaum
Community art making supports collaborative problem solving. Some children choose to work in teams. Two first-grade boys in an ArtBreak group began working together, first as a collaboration when one recruited the other when he needed help building a long communication device using cardboard tubes and tape. They continued this partnership through the year, and as they were in the same classroom they sometimes planned their work in advance. One day they came in and announced: “Today we will paint,” and then asked, “What will we paint?” I encouraged them to look around and see what they would like to paint. Together they discovered two Styrofoam cubes and attached them with tape. On their own they donned smocks and prepared a palette of yellow, blue, and red paint—three inviting pools of primary color. First, they made a lime green and gave the cubes their first coat. We exclaimed over the beauty of this green and I had to hold back to keep from urging them to leave some of that color when they added red. But the joy of red prevailed and the cubes turned a khaki color.
The boys painted and painted and noticed that they could carve their names in the cubes and reveal the lime green. They painted right back over the etched green letters, and then it was time to go. “Who would take the cubes home, taped together as they were?” they asked each other. They asked if I would use my mat knife to cut the tape. This was done and they found flat boxes for each wet cube. That afternoon I spotted them carefully carrying the painted cubes out of the school to the bus. Another year a sixth-grade boy came to my room for help in solving a friendship problem. After we finished that work he sat back and mused about the ArtBreak group he had participated with in fourth grade, remembering things long forgotten by me. “Do you remember how William (a boy two years his senior) helped me? We made Mario figures together. He showed me about the clay.”
A teacher-educator visited our studio and noted, “I was impressed with their confidence and persistence in trying various ways to present their ideas.” Because children are naturally eager to bring their ideas into form, if they are confident in their use of materials and their ability to ask for and receive help, they will tackle all kinds of problems. Here is a list of a few problems and questions engaged in ArtBreak sessions:
How to make a sturdy airplane wing?
What does a dragon look like?
How to cover cardboard tubes with pink color?
How to reinforce cardboard to make a tunnel?
How to paint a picture of a seashell?
How to attach a handmade flag to a pole?
How to get artwork home safely?
What is the best material for robot fingers?
What might best be used for a robot brain?
How to tie a strong knot that does not come undone?
How to make working doors in a cardboard Barbie house?
How to attach a cardboard tube to a cardboard box?
What does a flute look like?
What to do if I do not like my painting?
How to make a retractable light saber?
Can pink be for boys too?
What’s the best way to make a trap that works?
How many stars are on the American flag?
How to make a skirt?
Play is a learning language for children. This child has made toy binoculars to play with. Photo by Josh Birnbaum
IMAGINATION AND SELF-DIRECTION
A sixth-grade boy, when asked to describe ArtBreak, gave us this nugget of wisdom about choice, a condition that allows creativity to flourish: “We aren’t directed. Your mind is not in a can.” Another student offered: “We don’t get told what to do, what to make. We have ideas.”
The