Last week we had a fabulous time running our Activated Art workshop with 90 year 2 children at Madginford Primary School.
What is an Activated Art Workshop?
Our Activated Art workshops are usually themed around the artist, Kandinsky, but can be easily adapted to any artist or theme. In this workshop, the children begin by investigating what his art would look like if he had been motivated by movement, then build and code their own moving piece of art.
Kandinsky Introduction
Our recent Activated Art workshop began with an assembly-style introduction in which we talked about who Kandinsky was and what inspired him. The children had been studying Kandinsky recently so already had some amazing knowledge that they were able to share with us! We were so impressed by how much they had remembered, and we even learnt some new facts too!
We showed them our ‘moving art’ example within the assembly, and there was clear excitement about what they could produce.
Building the Artwork
After the assembly children were given break-out time in their classrooms to create the base for their pieces of art ready to add the moving section later on, we provided all of the materials needed so it was nice and easy for them to get started with their teachers. We were so impressed with their artistic skills; here’s a snapshot of some of their work, as you can see they really stuck to the theme nicely:
Coding and Moving
Later in the day, each class took part in a coding workshop to learn more about the micro:bit and how they could use their coding skills to make a servo motor spin. They were able to confidently connect everything together, working in pairs, and build their code. It was such an amazing moment when lots of the children hit the ‘download’ button at the same time, and we heard the eruptions of “WOW!” echoing around the room when they could see their artwork moving.
It was a “wow” moment for me too as the newest member of the team as it was the first time I had seen this workshop in action. It was so rewarding to see their faces light up when everything came together for the showcase at the end!
Activated Art Showcase
At the end of the day, we put all the artwork for each class on display so the children could see it all working and look at each other’s masterpieces!
Here’s a video that gives an overview of the day:
If you would like to book this workshop in your own school or business, please use our contact page to get in touch!