The project has been piloted already, (end of 2007, early 2008) through community funding received by the Local Network Fund. Themes were repeated at three separate venues, one in Birmingham and two in South Derbyshire and one in North West Leicestershire. Twenty seven children benefited from the project all in all.
Evaluation concluded that the workshop themes were best suited to children from 8 to 11 years and most who attended overall were within this age range. Younger children aged 5 - 7 participated fully as well with parents attending. A couple of older children participated in the Canal House workshop too.
ALL children and their parents thought that the art and craft activities made a link with the teaching of the formal subject every time. When asked, in evaluation, to give examples of how such links were made, the following comments were received:
‘Visual aid – paintings done by previous students’
‘I think the subject was linked through not only the discussion but through the hands on artwork’
‘Describing the subject i.e. whale, butterfly with words’
‘Yes, links to English – exploring adjectives through use of wide variety of materials, colours, textures. Encouraged imagination’
‘By reading passages of stories and thinking about imagery’
‘Examples of other work and the stories/poems that inspired it’
‘Reading was involved as they had to choose a book/poem for this session. Had to adapt a section of book/poem to make a visual art piece’
ALL parents felt that this kind of approach to learning fitted, in some way, with their own child/children’s preferred learning style. ALL of the children enjoy creative activities and so ALL parents were happy their children had the chance to express themselves creatively. Many commented on the music especially the movie themes such as Spiderman, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and James Bond. Further comments, in evaluation, included:
‘Yes, active learning’
‘Yes, my daughter is dyslexic and so the kinetic, hands-on approach suits her’
‘Yes, he likes different styles’
‘Yes, they chose stories that they liked and inspired them to work’
‘Yes, creative freedom and choice’
‘Yes, fun approach to learning through exploration and experimentation. Able to express themselves, not too formal or structured suits my children’
‘Yes, relaxed and able to work at own pace’
‘Yes, as they can reflect on the touch sensory experience, when relating to ‘describing words’ and what they created’
ALL children who participated said they had fun being a participant in this creative project.
When asked to give examples of how their child/children had benefited from being a participant the following comments were received, in evaluation:
‘He has learnt about Canal Houses, which he knew nothing about before. Socially, he had fun doing it with friends’
‘Lovely to work in a small group. Chance to work co-operatively and exchange creative ideas’
‘Working as a team, sharing ideas, gaining different skills, experiences’
‘Working in a group learning something different in a new way’
‘Benefitted both educationally and socially’
‘My children love participating in art activities especially where it is in a relaxed environment’
‘They saw friends, created a fine piece of art work inspired from literature’
‘Enjoyed seeing other people’s ideas working together with others’
‘Socially, sharing ideas, having something at the end to remind him of the ideas’
‘Nice to work in a group, something different to what they would normally do’
When the children were asked to express a thought/feeling about the session(s) they ALL said they had had fun and enjoyed it. Other comments, in evaluation:
‘liked the effect of painting over the wax (and the hairdryer)’
‘it was good’
‘Fantastic’
‘Loved the way the pictures can move’
‘Really good and exciting’
‘Matilda really liked it and would like to do more’
‘Workshop was good, exciting’
‘Brilliant’
‘Very good’
‘was really good and very enjoyable’
‘It was fun, and messy!!’ Said Joseph
‘A learning experience for Hassan. Isa and Tasmim said they thought the session was brilliant and wanted to come back’