One of my favorite parts of teaching children is the art that comes with it. One of my students gave this picture to me last night, on the third day of spring. I love its specificity.

I’m currently averaging about one piece of artwork a week, so my next step is to plan an in-class drawing or visual art-related activity that I can pair with movement. I really like this idea, modeled after one exercise from Lincoln Center Institute’s Ghostcatching workshop: I’d split my students into groups of two, and have half of the students perform choreography while the others sketched their partner’s shapes and movement. 

I’m thinking of bringing in examples of famous paintings, then have my students form movement tableaus, or create movement based on the artwork. Another activity from Ghostcatching workshop that I love, but I don’t think my students are old enough (they’re only about 7-years-old): Have each student make a wire sculpture of a dancer in a shape, then photograph each sculpture. Put photographs together and film each clip to make a short film, similar to a flip-book. (Which was an early version of Ghostcatching, a computer-animated dance film created in 1999 by choreographer Bill T. Jones and digital artists Shelley Eshkar and Paul Kaiser.)

Have you brought crayons, markers and paper into your classrooms? What activities work for you, and what do your students love most? 

To read more about Lincoln Center Institute’s Ghostcatching workshop, click here.