Art and Vibration

Art and Vibration

Let’s Make Castanets!  

Castanets are considered a percussion instrument used in many forms of music, most recognized in Spanish music.  The instrument is made of a pair of concave objects such as shells, wood or plastic, which is joined on one side by a string or in the photos below a simple fold.

Steps:

1. Cut a strip of cardboard to your required measurements (ours is just over 13cm by 4cm or just over 5 inches by 1.5 inches)

2. Fold the cardboard strip in half. If desired, you can decorate the cardboard: draw on it, paint it or do whatever you latest craft-crush dictates.(Alternatively, you can leave this step for after the castanets have been completed.)

3. Now you want to glue the bottle caps onto the cardboard.If your little crafters are very little, make sure they are gluing them on the inside of the folded cardboard piece. Put glue on the jagged edge of one bottle cap and place it on the edge of one end of the cardboard strip. If your cardboard is the thick kind you can press the bottle cap into the cardboard for a better grip.Let it dry.

4. Glue the second bottle cap on the other end of the cardboard strip, in the same manner. Make sure that it is aligned with the first bottle cap. You want them to click together when you're done, so they have to be positioned to correspond.Let the glue dry.If you've left the decorating-your-castanets part for last, now is the time to play some music and have fun with it.

Force, Motion and Magnets

Force, Motion and Magnets

This week our topic has to do with force and motion.  We are including magnetism to add a little extra interest to the mix. What is magnetic force?  It is  a consequence of the electromagnetic force caused by the motion of charges.  Two objects with a charge containing the same direction of motion have a magnetic force attraction between them.  And objects with charge moving in opposite directions have a repulsive force between them.  

Let’s try something a little radical in terms of magnetic force and art.  Let’s paint using magnets!  Watch the following YouTube video for a visual “how to”.  

https://youtu.be/Cczarst2jRE

Things you’ll need:

Paper

Magnets

Metal objects to help you paint interesting designs

As long as you are able to achieve magnetic attraction between your magnet and metal objects, with your paper in between, you’ll be able to create an interesting painting.

Hey Kids, a Video of Shadow Puppets by Tricia Maribojoc

Thank You Tricia For This Amazing Shadow Puppet Video!

The Earth, Sun and Shadows

The Earth, Sun and Shadows

When my oldest son was small, he and I were walking to the park on a very hot sunny day.  He told me, “Don’t worry Mama, the sun will move before long”.  I was amazed that he was able to connect the position of the sun with the brightness and heat of that time of day, at such a young age.  It was somewhat true that the sun would move, but actually it’s the position of the earth that actually moves the greatest.  The sun is made up of gaseous plasma, so it’s not a solid planet like the earth, and rotates on its axis once a month.  It takes Earth only 24 hours to make a full rotation.  

If you have ever noticed, shadows cast in the morning and evening times are very long since the sun is at its lowest point.  Shadows cast by the sun midday are extremely short since the sun is at its highest point of the day.  It was this basic knowledge that helped to develop the concept of time, and the invention of the sundial.

Here is a time lapse image, with chalk drawn outlines showing the progression of shadows and time.

As far as art goes, not only have artists used shadow to add a third dimension to their artwork, but they utilized shadows in the form of shadow puppetry.  The shadow puppet theater has been in use over a thousand years.  In Indonesia puppets are stylized into characters of heros.  

Try making some shadow puppets of your own.  You can create your own play as well, having various scripts for the different characters.  

https://youtu.be/xDF5ddeswfM

Have Fun!

How Do We See Color?

This is a topic we have discussed in art, “How Do We See Color?”

Let’s begin by remembering white light, particularly sunlight, is made of all colors.  If you have ever seen an optical prism, it has a transparent triangular base with rectangular sides, and its polished surfaces reflect light.  The prism disperses the light passing through it into differing wavelengths.  So light of different colors become refracted differently and leaves the prism at different angles, creating a rainbow effect.

How about trying to create a rainbow of your very own? 

K-2 Kids

Try making a rainbow with your water hose.  Watch the following video for how to use your hose with light.

https://youtu.be/3yxp2LDn8AA

3-5 Kids

You can make a simple prism with a mirror and water:

https://youtu.be/GI50MSQGHXw

Now for how we see color.  Our eyes and brain together translate light into color.  The receptors within our eyes transmit messages to the brain which produces familiar sensations of color.  As we look at an object, a red apple for example, the surface of the apple reflects red, while absorbing all the other colors so we only see the red reflected color.  Additionally, an object appears white in color when it reflects all wavelengths and black when it absorbs them all.  

Here is a link below to further explain how we see color:

https://youtu.be/DJDBTNbAWOE

Extension

Many wonder how animals see color.  It has been thought that our fury friends can only see in black and white, but not true.  Animals do see colors differently than us humans.  As humans, we all have the same types of photoreceptors in our eyes and will perceive the same colors.  When an animal sees the same light, they perceive something totally different because they have an entirely different set of photoreceptors.  They do not have as many cones responsible for color as we have, but various species have different ways of seeing.  Cats, for instance, can see very well at night.