Activity Corner

Ages 4–5: Activity 1
Textures and Fabric

Parents and caregivers! Try this simple activity at home with your child.

Look at Noah Kinney's Articia Gene below. In this sculpture, the artist carved wood to create Articia Gene, but he also used real clothes for the wooden woman's outfit. We call the clothes found objects. Found objects are real objects that the artist did not create but used in his or her artwork.

For this activity, found objects will be used to create an original drawing.

Materials:
Small piece of fabric
Glue and scissors
8½ x 11 inch piece of white paper
Crayons

Steps:

1. Ask your child to draw a picture of a parent, sibling, caregiver, or friend. This can be done with crayons. Tell her to use fabric to create the clothes for her portrait.
2. Cut out a small piece of fabric from an old shirt, pillowcase, etc., in the shape of whatever type of clothes that your child wants. How about a hat or a pair of funky shoes to go with that outfit?
3. Glue the fabric to the paper.
4. Talk to your child about the person she picked and why.

Noah Kinney Articia Gene, 1983 Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia