ARTventures: A Scavenger Hunt for kids, in Cape Town’s Coolest Art Gallery
Maria Montesorri, John Dewey and Jean Piaget all agreed that children are constantly learning from their real life experience and that actively engage with their environment enables them to learn from these contexts.Therefor if we want to provide kids with the opportunity to explore and learn about contemporary local artworks then their is no better place do so than in a real gallery. ARTventures is an immersive learning experience allowing kids to scavenger and explore modern artworks in a gallery setting and then use their scavenged “treasures” in creating their own artwork.
How do ARTventures work?
“You have a Mission!”, indicates the start of the activity to the kids. The mission outlines the objective of the scavenger hunt. This month, kids have to collect “treasures” to make a lantern, inspired by the designer Willow Lamps on display in the Gallery this month. Our “treasures” are the materials we will use to create our own artworks. And off the little bodies go, moving about a the beautiful gallery space with their brown paper bags to collect their treasures.
We stop at selected works on all three floors of the gallery as ask kids to describe what they see, “I see glitter paint!” a little voice thoughtfully describes the metallic layers of Caro Allum’s large abstract works that we later discover remind us of “the inside of sea shells”. We learn that some artworks are UP in the ceiling and that sometimes the opposite is true, a change of perspective, because sometimes you have to look DOWN to see treasures.
The kids are given clues and guided through the gallery by Marie Vogts (the gallery’s managing director) and Gabi Immelman (Artventure creator). They are asked to find artworks, interpret abstract subject matter, identify patterns, make connections and develop their own questions.
Chris Swart’s fynbos artworks are described to use a range of different shades of green, yellow, brown and “even some blue” and so we discover that nature can inspire us to make art, but we also discover that we can use nature to make our own art. Exploring art can help children process and make sense of new information. By pausing and asking open ended questions we create the opportunity for pause and observe allowing kids to use language skills to describe what they see and express their ideas.
Analysing the artworks allows for inquiry that is lead by each child’s own experience of artworks, some may be interested by the large, layered, metallic and glitter canvases, others may be curious about the fynbos they recognise and others maybe intrigued by trying spot recognisable shapes or forms in the “mysterious” sculptures Helo Samo.
After collecting all our materials we move to the Studio, where it’s time to get our hands messy! With choices of purple glitter paint, wax crayons and pastels and a whole bag of goodies, kids can test out new materials and ideas. We reframe the use of materials, such as tinfoil interesting and highly malleable. We learn that it can create a shiny effect and reflect light, not just be used for wrapping lunchbox sandwiches and left over.
The making part of the activity is designed to help kids feel confident and motivated to persist in experimentation with their new found materials in creating their own artwork. Kids are encouraged to “think big, act small, fail fast, learn rapidly”. The kids engage in choice making and taking action in making their lanterns, as they decide whether what materials to use, and the way in which they will organise their compositions. At the of the workshop part of the ARTventure, kids get to take their creations home!
Being creative and allowing children to make their own choices gives them a sense of agency and autonomy and the confidence to do so, as in the moment a young girl refuses assistance and explains to her mum, “ I can make my own art, thanks!”.
Guiding experiences, giving clues, solving puzzles, pointing out observations and asking questions are wonderful tools to enable learning. But sometimes the real fun and learning is to be had when kids just get their hands messy and trying things out in real life.
This is a bi-monthly ARTventure at Youngblood Africa in Bree St, Cape Town. Tuesdays at 10am.
The scavenger hunt and activity changes monthly as the exhibition in the gallery changes.
Bookings to be made using the Adventure Clubs App!
