Every preschooler should hit up Matisse. His work is colorful and approachable. And he's an artist that left a unique mark on our visual landscape. Art and design surround us today that are clear descendants of his work.
So it's no surprise that there are countless Matisse activities out there in schools, camps, and in homes. It's well covered ground. Honestly, there's a lot of wonderful stuff out there.
But I'm looking for more than a great Matisse project, I want to help my kids build a relationship with artists and their artwork. I don't want them to breeze by, and move onto the next thing. I want them to sit with the art and fully consider it. So here's a full unit of study. Any of these activities could be done on their own, but together, they have real impact.
STORYTELLING This time, the bulk of our storytelling came from children's books about Matisse. There are so many great books out there, and we leaned in to three of them for read/play/create experiences. I captured all three experiences in the post, Let's Pretend We're Matisse. A visit there will provide all the details.
First, we read the book, The Iridescence of Birds, and set up a Matisse inspired still life. The kids got to pretend to be Matisse, arranging and painting.
Then we read, Henri's Scissors, and enjoyed a cutting tray filled with colorful paper and a pair of scissors.
Finally, we loved the book, Matisse the King of Color. It was the perfect jumping off point for some world building play. I built a little box version of Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence, Matisse's famous chapel with gorgeous stained glass windows. After the kids played with it and acted out parts of the story, they created their own stained glass panes.
EXPLORING
After reading these books, and leafing through countless others, the kids were ready to see a Matisse or two in person. We are lucky to live close to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. The museum boasts three lovely pieces that are part of the permanent collection on display.
We prepped for our visit with play, and a review of expectations. If you're interested in what our museum adventures look and feel like, and how my 4 and 2 year old are learning to navigate the world of museums, check out the post, Raising a Museum Lover. It has 10 tips for making the most of the experience.
At the museum, Rémy raced through, as usual. Sierra took her time to take everything in, which makes for some tense moments. But Rémy is getting better and better at giving Sierra this little gift. He knows that she really loves to stop and take long looks at the art.
PLAYING
For each unit, I try to give the kids an invitation to play, giving them the opportunity to explore and have fun with some of the ideas that have come up during our unit. This time around, it was a giant felt board. The kids enjoyed creating different compositions so much, I brought everything out each day for a week.
To prepare the board, I stapled large sections of colored felt to a cork board, serving as a Matisse-like background. I then placed the cork board in a giant frame I found a lifetime ago at a thrift store. Every move I've made, it gets hauled around with me.
Then I cut out a variety of fun Matisse shapes from felt squares, reminiscent of his cut paper period. These felt shapes were scattered around on the floor along with a few works of inspiration by Matisse.
We talked briefly about composition and being thoughtful about placement. It's a lesson that we will revisit again and again, but won't really sink in for a long time. A couple times, I asked them to take a step back from their work, stand across the room and just look. Then they would go back to arranging and rearranging.
CREATING
It's Christmas time now, so I decided to lean into Matisse and create a colorful Christmas tree. But this project could easily become a mobile.
The kids whipped up a batch of salt dough, rolled it out, and then did their best to cut out shapes. Admittedly, this was a whole lot easier for Rémy than it was for Sierra. Not sure any of her attempts made it onto the pan, but she did enjoy the process of creating and trying to imitate what her brother was doing.
Once the shapes were baked, the kids were able to add a coat of acrylic paint in different colors. Then they added hooks and hung them up. The result was a tree Matisse could be proud of.
Normally, after all the storytelling, exploring, and playing, we focus on one big project, but this time we ended up doing two. Our second Matisse project was a special add on. It was inspired by our exploration of trees that's happening primarily outside in Nature School.
The kids had been looking at all the different parts of a tree, and so I presented them with an invitation to create a Matisse tree. To prep, I cut many different Matisse inspired shapes out of green and brown cardstock. I glued several sheets of blue cardstock together to create a large background.
Then the kids took turns adding to the tree. They added a trunk and branches and then leaves. There was a lot of debate on whether or not the leaves should be falling off the tree. Sierra was in favor, Rémy was not. Sierra took the last turn adding a leaf, and snuck one in just falling off the tree.
REFLECTING
After each play session or invitation to create, I asked the kids to pause to consider their work. Sometimes my probes were about the process they engaged in (like with the salt dough), and other times I asked what they liked about their art.
Their reflections are short and sweet (they are always onto the next thing), but getting into the habit of finishing up a project with a little reflection will pay off later on down the road.
If you would like to join us on some of these storytelling/play/create adventures, please contact me!
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