HandEye Magazine!

a little story about lalaloop.......
http://www.handeyemagazine.com/content/loop-it-savannah

AND.... we're back!

This Fall marks our third year! I've been basking in all the incredible progress and growth that have happened at the Y and for us! (I'll do a retrospective soon......)

We WILL be starting our classes over the next two weeks!
here is the plan:

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 21 9:30-11:30AM beginning a local nature unit with the pre-k kids at the YMCA daycare! I worked with these cuties over the summer... so good we need to continue!

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 24 4:30-6PM YMCA afterschool elementary kids! all the old timers!
we will be starting with decorating some big name tags for a wall display. all volunteers welcome! We specifically need someone to be in charge of taking pictures of ALL the kids! Let me know if you can come!!!!

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 27 4:30- 6PM Keyton/ Frazier Boys and Girls Club! Elementary kids!
more old timers. Ocean themed projects to add to the display we began in the front hall over the summer.

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 28 9:30-11:30AM - More local nature with the Pre-K kids

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 30 5-6 - Open Art for all neighborhood kids.
Work on ocean peojects.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 1 4:30-6PM - YMCA ELEMENTARY. OCEAN PROJECTS

**** IN THE WEEKS THAT FOLLOW, we will keep up with all parts of this schedule.
All volunteers are welcome! Bring whatever ideas and know-how you have, or just your sweet selves!

email looplinktangle@gmail.com for more info// with questions!
looking VERY forward to it!

10,000,000 Beads!

Much to my excitement, a Pre-School on Whitmarsh Island donated a large collection of "Hamma" or "Pearler" Beads and the little pegboards that go with them. For those of you not farmilliar with this incredible product, let me explain....

The 4" plastic pegboards come in a variety of shapes; hearts, stars, hexagons... and all you do is put small plastic beads onto the boards in any design that you like.






When you fill up the whole thing, put a piece of waxed paper on top and iron it for a few minutes until the beads melt together and become a solid shape.




AWESOME! Always my favorite when I was little. Needless to say, it became a camp craze!!! Every single one of our kids (ages 6-16) made at lease one of these creations!

This is a fantastic example of a play-based project. It may not be the most open ended of all activities, but it is fun, quick and builds great fine motor skills and focus. It is also a great way to begin learning about pattern.



"A pattern is a thing where you go one of one thing, and then three of another thing. And then back to one of the first thing. My pattern is just one of one, one of another one. Pinks and reds. I like those."

It was really amazing to see how the kids took this process on as their own. As new kids joined in, the veteran art devotees explained and demonstrated how it worked.




I think that even beyond teaching the kids actual skills, we want to encourage this sense of involvement and belonging. It's wonderful to feel like you have all the tools and know how to fully belong and carry on in a group. We achieved that with all one hundred and fifty of our campers during bead week!

cutie pie

Flying Time! Flying Fish!

Somehow we find ourselves nearing the middle of July! We have about 150 kids enrolled in camp at the Y! Everyone, ages 4-15, comes to art class on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Here are some highights... Last was OCEAN WEEK and we made stuffed sea creature mobils with paper.

This video is unfortunately sideways.... and i can't fugure out how to flip it, but worth a look anyway:


There has been so much art enthusiasm this summer! There is a group of 6 kids that keep working on their projects thru snack everday and then stay to help with the younger kids. The other night as I was heading home a few kids came up to me in the hallway and asked if they could have some stuff to do drawing in the hallway while they waited for their parents.....


We also made some Ocean Collages, using many different kinds of materials:




There has been so much art enthusiasm this summer! There is a group of 6 kids that keep working on their projects thru snack everday and then stay to help with the younger kids. The other night as I was heading home a few kids came up to me in the hallway and asked if they could have some stuff to do drawing in the hallway while they waited for their parents.....

ART SHOW

We spent today decorating and hanging work for our art show!
Many of the kids have been working on a big paper chain, which we hung up today.

Lindsey said, "I'll make a real chain. With these paper clips...."



First linking them together, and then linking the whole chain into loops.



I am continuously wowed by the complete and total brilliance of children.



and oh yeah... we're pretty pumpped about the show!

TUESDAY APRIL 27th, 5-7pm

WEST BROAD STREET YMCA

1110 May Street Savannah GA

Working From Our Friends Poems

We've been working on illustrations to go along with poems by the Spitfire Poetry Group and we will be making a little book that you can take home at our show next week!

Clinton Powell, who runs the poetry class sent me a list of the poem's titles and we spend yesterday afternoon illustrating!



This one, in response to "The Beach," really sparked my interest. Mardina came over to show it to me and explained, "these are the 'kokonuts' falling from the tree because it's koko beach. and this (yellow figure) is a woman. And these (blue figures) are her children. and this (milticolored figure) is her other kid that didn't grow up yet."

I asked if that kid had been born yet? She said, "No but he gets to be at the beach because he is in his momma's belly and thats where she is."




For whatever reason, Amon was having a bad day and I decided to sit and work with him. Like many kids, he will really focus and become involved in what he is doing if there is an adult nearby who expresses interest and talks to him about what he is making.

At the beginning, Amon informed me that he "didn't know about anything that you can draw. especially if there is a poem about it." Hmmm.

"What about your family? I bet you know about them."

" A little. I know a little."

I asked how many people were in his family. and he looked confused. So I said, "how about how many people live in your house?"

"We got five. First my Momma. She the biggest. She goes first."
He very carefully worked on this tiny drawing of his mother... paying special attention to her hair. "Momma got nice big hair, that goes up and then down."

"And then I write 'me' over my face you you know who the artist is in this family... not my baby sister."