learning to control one’s pencil
Marcel’s teacher said he needs to practice his writing over the summer. I don’t really agree that handwriting is really critical for a four year old boy, but I do see the joy he gets when he concentrates on something he is proud of. I also love encouraging him to develop skills, concentration and control. Its also nice to throw in some art, process and design.
During Em’s nap we worked on this project, that brought me so much delight…and is so much more fun than repetitious alphabets in a work book for Marcel! We started with choosing a subject matter, and printing out a photo of it. I chose a jack rabbit. Marcel chose Lightening McQueen. Then we drew a picture of it in pencil. Then we traced that picture using a ink pot and a old fashioned nib. Then we scanned that drawing, and put it into photoshop. We arranged our composition and then printed onto cardstock. We then coloured our drawing with watercolour pencils and painted it. Then we signed it and hung it up.
This process is one I do all the time for my work, and it was so fun to repeat with Marcel. I LOVE the results. His little drawing is so wonderful. Its very cubist the way he is trying to draw the car from the front, but including things like the side windows – because he knows they are there…
