Arts in Education Strategies

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Warm Ups:

THE STATUE GAME
Ask students to stand in a spot where they have some room around them. Call out image words. The students silently and individually (but all at the same time) make statues of the words with their bodies. Start with strong, graphic images (emotions are usually good choices) and then move to easily identifiable objects, e.g., pumpkin, tree, airplane. Move into more abstract images such as the color red, freedom, or yesterday. Point out that they have been communicating with their bodies.

Going Further in Depth: Group Statues. Students may also make group statues. The whole group is to make the image you call out. If you say "tree," they are to make one tree out of five people, not five separate trees. Start with simple graphic images which are easy to create together, e.g., a rubber ball, a house, a box with a lid on it. Later they can act out more complex words or phrases such as sewing machine, airplane, the city of New York, ancient Egypt, etc. Throughout this activity, they are to work silently and avoid the temptation to direct each other in the creation of the statue.

Tableaus. Group statues may be used to create all sorts of frozen images: illustrations from books, historical events, paintings, moments from a story. These can also be set into motion. Adding motion can allow students to demonstrate scientific and mathematical principles such as the solar system, the water cycle, and geometric shapes.

This strategy was taken from the book "Teaching Curriculum Through the Arts," available at http://www.creativeeducationalsystems.com/web_files/TeachingCurriculum.html

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