What I Learn from Three Year Olds on iPads

Kristin Reiber Harris
KristinHarrisDesign.com

I am back in the house, that is the Yellow House at Elizabeth's Early Learning Center. I had been visiting my three year old friends at this day care center for a number of years when my schedule last year made it difficult to get there. I'm back and boy am I thrilled about it.

What's so wonderful about this experience?

It's always fun to spend time with individuals who are happy, friendly and into what's happening right now, whether they are three or fifty.  

I am so respectful of their intelligence. These kids are curious and smart. As a general rule they are pretty fearless, certainly about making mistakes. They spend quite of bit of their day learning by making mistakes. (I do too.) This comes quite naturally.

I love sharing information and helping others build skill sets. That is what education is all about and interactive experiences can be a great way to explore information. 

Kids, Technology and Electricity: A Book Review

If you are like me and live the Eastern US, you may be experiencing a power outage.  A wind storm, known as a derecho came through Central Virginia last Friday night about 9pm.  It sounded like a train with winds gusting up to 75 miles per hour.  It was the first storm I had experienced that was frightening.  We live in a wonderfully wooded area of the city and I have never seen trees endure such stress.  Miraculously most survived intact, of course many did not.

Kids and technology don't work well without electricity.  We are in our 5th day of no electricity and no clear end in sight for our home.  However, kids and art go well together... even without electricity.

No electricity, no ice.  OpenPhoto.net

What is the up side of all of this?  It's time for crayons, pencils and paper.  It's a time for sleeping on the porch and drawing in the dark or pretending to connect the dots when the fireflies light up.  It's a good time for clay or play dough, if you have access to water. It's a good time to haul out the art books and show the kids some of your favorite images and objects.


A good book to read to your kids when the power is out is Frida Kahlo: The Artist who Painted Herself, written by Margaret Frith and illustrated by Tomie dePaola.

World class artist with a complicated life story

If you are not familiar with Frida Kahlo's life and work, she is a great inspiration to kids because of the obstacles and challenges she faced in her life.  What child doesn't like to play dress up, whether is as a princess or a super hero.  Frida and her costumes and pets will generate some good ideas for art projects.

The text is framed as a little girl's report about an artist with whom she shares a first name, even if they are not spelled exactly the same way.  Frida Kahlo was born in Mexico in 1907.  Her mother was Mexican and her father was German.  As a student she suffered a traumatic accident that left her bed-ridden for long periods of time and would affect her health for the rest of her life.  Her life story is complicated because of her work, her marriage and her interests in politics.  She is one of the most famous and revered artists from Mexico.

Picture Book as Funny for Adults as Kids: The Art Teacher from the Black Lagoon

The producers of The Simpsons are masters at it...creating media that is as entertaining for adults as it is for children.  The Art Teacher from the Black Lagoon is not the equivalent of the long running animated series The Simpsons, but it is very clever.

It was the first day of art class. The kids had heard all about the art teacher, Krayolla Swamp.  She had quite a reputation.  Some of her dresses were made out of egg cartons and she made her hats out of paper plates.  She had a long pony tail she used as a paint brush and the art room was a recycling dump. The last student who had opened a closet in there was still missing.  Swamp even made students paint with their hands and feet.  Gross. 

Jared Lee's illustrations provide additional humor to Mike Thaler's story.

What follows are a series of puns on art materials and artists’ names that will be over the heads of the youngest readers but will be appreciated by adults. One class activity was oreo-gami or folding cookies. Artists named Dolly and P.Catso have work featured.  All of this fear and trepidation was for naught. Miss Swamp wasn’t a monster after all.  Very clever illustrations and humorous text make this a delightful read for both children and adults.

2012, Spotlight, (2003, Scholastic)

ISBN: 978-1-59961-952-1