The Happy Parent Initiative: Making Art Together

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Making Art Together

The Happy Parent Initiative & publication is a Blue Drum project supported by Tusla, Child & Family Agency

www.bluedrum.ie

The Outreach Centre, Clonshaugh Drive, Priorswood, Dublin 17, Ireland

Limited Edition Booklet launched at Dublin Castle on 29th September 2014

a specialist support agency funded by

Making Art Together

Contents

Introduction 6Who, what and why

Why Art? 8Some of the many benefits of creativity

Getting to know you 10Communicating with each other through art

Recycle, Recreate 12Using household items, make your own playdough

Abstract Art 14Rainy day painting as a group, dressing up and fitting in

Be a Band! 16Make your own musical instruments

Team Building Games 18Games for groups and ideas to get conversations flowing

Thanks for Taking Part! 20Thank you to all the Family Resource Centres who took part in the Happy Parent Initiative.

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Bluedrum’s Happy Parent Initiative (HPI) ran from 2012-2014 and was a developmental project aimed primarily at parents with young children The intention of the project was to help parents access their own creative skills which they were then encouraged to use in the home with their children. Sharing in creative activities helps to facilitate positive communication between parent and child, creating a space where the family can encourage each others talents and abilities in a relaxed, supportive atmosphere.

In designing HPI workshops primary concerns were accessibility and cost of materials, consequently creative projects were researched and developed based on their use of non-hazardous household materials, recycling and availability of materials in local supermarkets or discount shops. The creative processes delivered at the workshops were developed to encourage paired and group interaction thereby increasing skills of communication, negotiation and partnered problem solving, as well as encouraging development not only of art making but also story-telling, memory/history and cultural exchange. The workshops were developed using simple techniques that demonstrated to participants the ease with which they could run a similar workshop and to encourage sharing of their own ingenuity.

Originally conceived as a one day taster workshop HPI developed into a 4 week programme with a three day intensive option for community workers and volunteers. All of the developments and changes were made as a direct response to the ideas and input from the participants.

Bluedrum are not only interested in the development of positive communication and creative expression between parent and child but are also concerned with addressing the problems of isolation suffered by many parents as discussed in the FSA Growing Up In Ireland 2012 report. As part of the Happy Parent Initiative Bluedrum encourage parents, community workers and artists to hold peer-to-peer creative workshops as a means of developing local parent and community support networks.

Developing these kinds of creative networks also complements Bluedrum’s mission of developing sustainable cultural expression and rights within the communities served by Family Resource Centres and community development programmes.

Introduction

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Making Art TogetherThe Happy Parent Initiative was designed and implemented by:

Eleanor Phillips, artist and project leader.

With the help, encouragement, ideas and hard-work of:

Vivienne Byrne, artist and facilitator;

Lisa Crowne, artist and facilitator;

Gillian Keogan, colleague and support worker.

Contributions, advice and support were also provided by:

Jean Bates, community worker with Ballyboden FRC, with extensive experience in Adult Education, Childcare Supervision and Counselling;

Pam Buchanan, a Family Learning and Creative Thinking facilitator with Co. Dublin VEC, responsible for the Storysacks programme.

Evaluation was provided by Barry Cullen, Phd

Special thanks to Blue Drum Director Ed Carroll for his support and

encouragement.

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Why Art?

“Art! Why would I make art with my family, I can’t even draw a straight line? I’m useless at art!” These are the most common things we hear when we bring our workshop to town. But once everyone gets involved most people discover their own creativity and abilities.

There are also some very good reasons for being creative and artistic. Here are just a few:

Cog ni tive abil i ties are brain-based skills we need to carry out any task from the sim plest to the most com plex. They have more to do with the mech a nisms of how we learn, remem ber, problem-solve, and pay atten-tion rather than with any actual knowl edge. For instance, answer ing the tele phone involves at least: per cep tion (hear ing the ring tone), deci sion tak ing (answer ing or not), motor skill (lift ing the receiver), lan guage skills (talk ing and under stand ing lan guage), social skills (inter pret ing tone of voice and inter act ing prop erly with another human being). In the same way play, making art, helps to develop all those skills.

Much of children’s early learning and development takes place through play and hands-on experiences. Through these, children explore social, physical and imaginary worlds. These experiences help them to manage their feelings, develop as thinkers and language users, develop socially, be creative and imaginative, and lay the foundations for becoming effective communicators and learners.

When young children use their imaginations in play, they are more creative, perform better at school tasks, and develop a problem solving approach to learning. Educating a child’s imagination is therefore an important way to prepare children for the future.

Creativity and making art is good for your mental health (as found by the American Journal of Public Health).

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Making Art Together

But Why Make Art Together?

Taking time to sit with each other and ask simple questions about favourite foods, colours, music or other seemingly banal things is a great way to learn about each other in a relaxed non- invasive and yet intimate way. It encourages communication, understanding of differences, recognising similarities, listening skills and patience. Combining these conversations with an arts process allows these conversations to take place in a relaxed atmosphere and also develops our cognitive and problem solving skills. The act of making also develops our fine motor skills e.g. holding a pen, using a brush, or manipulating play dough.

The following pages contain some ideas to get you started ...

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Drawing each others hands is a very simple and relaxing way to get to know how a child’s day went. This simple art work can also be used to make cards, prints, sculpture, even costumes. All it requires is a little listening and a drop of imagination.

Ask each other questions

about your day and colour

or draw in the answers.

Don’t write any words!

See how much you can tell

about each other with just

pictures.

With really small children, paint their hand and print it onto a piece of paper. Let them do a whole series of hands which can be cut out and glued to coloured paper for birthday cards or framed.

... or feet

Draw around eac

h other’s h

and, ... or head

Getting to know you

Use the “Alternative Palm Reading “ guide at the end of this booklet for ideas to put in your drawing

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Making Art TogetherDrawing each others hands is a very simple and relaxing way to get to know how a child’s day went. This simple art work can also be used to make cards, prints, sculpture, even costumes. All it requires is a little listening and a drop of imagination.

Cut the hands out.

Draw lots and lots of hands and use them to make an Indian head-dress or stick them to a large paper bag to make a mask. Don’t forget to make holes for eyes!

... or head

Stick them on the back of a strip

of wallpaper and use it to measure

everyone’s height.

Make a family project with the hands, e.g. stick the hands onto coloured paper and frame them; stick the hands onto coloured card to make Christmas or birthday cards, use them to make a family tree.

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You don’t need really expensive art materials to create great sculptures. Cereal boxes, empty toilet rolls and kitchen rolls, tissue paper, egg boxes and even odd socks can be used to make sculptures. You can colour these with coloured paper such as wrapping paper, crepe paper, threads, rope or cut out the colours and images from magazines and wrappers and stick them to the sculptures.

Tell a fantastic

al story ba

sed

on the information

you have

shared with ea

ch other w

hen

drawing each oth

ers hands.

Create a cr

eature or p

lace

based on this

new story.

A famous writer once said that when she is teaching others how to write short stories she tells her students to write three facts about themselves. Then she tells them to turn one of those facts into a lie. “Now you have the beginning of a new adventure” she tells them. “Write about it”.

Recycle, Recreate

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Making Art Together

Making your own “clay” for sculpting is something most children love doing and everyone can take turns mixing up the dough. Have fun Experiment with your phone’s camera settings and use them to create strange photos or funny videos.

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Abstract Art You can create a big family painting with a large sheet of paper (such as a cut-off from wallpaper); a torch; a pencil and some paint, markers or crayons.

Stick the sheet of paper to a wall with some blu-tack or masking tape. Use the torch to create shadows on to the large sheet of paper. One person can hold the torch, another can hold the object or use their own bodies. Someone else can draw the outline of the shadow.

Take turns holding the torch, drawing or creating the shadows. Turn the paper around and draw over the drawings already on the paper. Turn it on its side and do more shadow drawings. Keep doing this until the whole sheet is

covered in drawings.

When the paper is full of drawings, take it down and lay it out on the table. Now you can all colour it in. Don’t try to make sense of the drawings, Just colour in-between the lines. Use lots of different colours, if you are using paint mix your colours to create new ones. You can use egg boxes to hold and mix your paint.

Everyone can work on the painting together. Change places every 10 mins and colour another part of the painting. Make it fun and active.

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Making Art Together

Take turns holding the torch, drawing or creating the shadows. Turn the paper around and draw over the drawings already on the paper. Turn it on its side and do more shadow drawings. Keep doing this until the whole sheet is

covered in drawings.

Ta Dah! One Big Abstract Painting for your room.

Use the large Abstract piece as a background in a group or indivdual photo. Dress up in way that makes you blend in with the background.This is also a great way to start a conversation about difference and fitting in.

Read a story as a source for inspiration. In these photos we used Arthur Spiderwicks Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You.

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Be a Band!

Creating musical instruments together and preforming as a band is a great way to get everyone to listen to rhythms and sounds. You can make guitars and drums, but you can also make much simpler sounds. Water is great for sound: blow bubbles through a straw; rattle some pebbles in a plastic container of water; swish water around with a lollipop stick. Clap your hands, snap your fingers or play the spoons.

A simple guitar can be made

using a box, large elastic bands

for the strings and kitchen roll

tube. Tissue boxes are handy as

they have the hole ready cut but

you may need to stick extra card

around the sides to give it added

strength.

To get different notes from your

“strings” place a pencil under the

elastic bands and slant the pencil

at an angle, adjust for tuning.

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Making Art TogetherYou can use the hands project at the start of this booklet to make up lyrics about your family or group. You can talk about your day. Or lyrics about a film or book. A fun day out, family celebration, anything you want!

Ideas Box

Get everyone in the family or group to gather pictures of strange creatures, unusual places, buildings, planets, or strange objects. You can add special mementos and photos too. Keep them all in a box and choose only four or five images for each project. It’s also a great way to write unusual lyrics, stories or poems.

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Find Your Pack!

Think of five or six different animals that make distinct animal sounds such as: cat, dog, snake, monkey, cow, pig, etc. Whisper the name of the animal into each persons ear and have them find each other by making that animal sound. For example, all the dogs would find each other by barking. You can use blindfolds or close your eyes to make it a little more interesting.Loud, fun and energising!

Greetings Game

Everyone starts by milling about the room. You then ask them to find a different way to greet each person, they could smile, shake hands, wave, bow, hug. Make sure that everyone has met each other at least once. Then ask the players to greet each other in a more specific way. Possibilities are: greet each other like you greet a long lost friend greet someone you don`t really trust greet an ex-friend greet someone you really hate someone you have a secret crush on someone with bad breath greet someone like you are a teacher, a soldier, a nanny, a farmer,...

Banana Surgery

Gather into small groups or pairs and give each group a banana, cutting board and plastic knife. Each group should cut the banana into 4 or 5 equal sized pieces. (Don’t tell them what the next steps are at this point).

Then hand out banana surgery kits - pins, string, sticky tape, tooth picks, rubber bands etc. The goal is for each group to reassemble the banana.

The lesson from this game is that some things (relationships, trust, reputation, bananas!) are easy to break but more difficult to put back together.

Team Building GamesHere are a few games for parties or when you find yourself with a bored brood who need energising!

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Making Art TogetherQuestions to help conversations flow whilst drawing

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Thanks for Taking Part!

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Making Art TogetherA very big Thank You to the Family Resource Centres who took part in the Happy Parent Initiative and contributed ideas and time to the development of the programme.

Millennium Family Resource Centre, Glengoole, Co. Tipperary

Three Drives Family Resource Centre, Tipperary Town,

Gortnahoe Community Playgroup, Co. Tipperary

Spafield Family Resource Centre, Old Road, Cashel, Co. Tipperary

People’s Resource Centre, Kells, Co. Meath

Connect Family Resource Centre, Drogheda, Co Louth

Focus Family Resource Centre, Killeshandra, Co. Cavan

Tacu, Ballinrobe FRC, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo

Neart hAmhnais Teoranta, Ballyhaunis FRC, Co. Mayo

Gort Family Resource Centre, Church Street, Gort, Co. Galway

BUDS Family Resource Centre, Benmore, Ballyduff, Co. Kerry

St. Brigid’s Community Centre, Tralee, Co. Kerry

Kerryhead/Ballyheigue FRC, Ballyheigue, Co. Kerry

Castlemaine FRC, Co. Kerry

Listowel Family Resource Centre, Co. Kerry

South West Kerry FRC, Caherciveen, Co. Kerry

Droichead na Daoine, Seaview, Sneem, Co. Kerry

Adrigole Family Resource Centre, Adrigole, Beara, Co. Cork

Ballyboden Family Resource Centre, Ballyboden, Dublin 16

Killinarden Family Resource Centre, Tallaght, Dublin 24

St. Andrew’s Family Resource Centre, Dublin 2

Baldoyle Family Resource Centre, Baldoyle, Dublin 13

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And Finally ...

“Arts education enables the child to explore alternative ways of communicating with others. It encourages ideas that are personal and inventive and makes a vital contribution to the development of a range of intelligences. A purposeful arts education at primary level is life-enhancing and is invaluable in stimulating creative thinking and in promoting capability and adaptability. It emphasises the creative process and so ensures that the child’s work is personal and has quality. Attempts at artistic expression are valued, self-esteem is enhanced, spontaneity and risk-taking are encouraged and difference is celebrated. It is this affirming aspect of the creative arts that makes participation such a positive experience. Arts education is integral to primary education in helping to promote thinking, imagination and sensitivity, and arts activities can be a focus for social and cultural development and enjoyment in school. Arts education encompasses a range of activities in the visual arts, in music, in drama, in dance and in literature. These activities and experiences help the child to make sense of the world; to question, to speculate and to find solutions; to deal with feelings and to respond to creative experience.”Primary School Curriculum, Arts Education

Special thanks to Dabhain Tutty Phillips for road-testing workshops

A Limited Edition Booklet Design, Layout, & Production by Eleanor Phillips

Printing by Central Press, Bray, Co. Wicklow

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