PA Academic Standards

Early Childhood 15.1 – Gathering and Constructing Knowledge
Early Childhood 9.1 – Production, Performance and Exhibition: Visual Arts
Art & Humanities 9.4 – Aesthetic Response

NJ Academic Standards

Art & Humanities 1.4 – Aesthetic Responses

Grade level:

Preschool

Art Images Required:

Click on the titles below to view images on the Museum's website. Images available on ARTstor are indicated by an ID Number or Phrase; use this to search for the corresponding item in the ARTstor database http://library.artstor.org/library/welcome.html

 

Smell and Touch:

Still Life with Roses in a Fluted Vase, by Henri Fantin-Latour (ARTstor search: 1978-1-10)

Taste and Touch:

Les Peches (Peaches) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir 9 (ARTstor search: 1993-151-3)

Hear and Taste:

Pepper Pot: A Scene in the Philadelphia Market, by John Lewis Krimmel (ARTstor search: 2001-196-1)
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold (ARTstor search: Tar Beach, 1991 – will reveal several images from which to choose)

Hear and Touch:

Concert Singer, by Thomas Eakins (ARTstor search: 1929-184-19)
Cuirassier Armor, creator unknown (ARTstor search: 1977-167-39)

Background:

Though we may not actually be able to feel or hear the objects and scenes depicted in a painting, artists often invite us to use a variety of our senses when we explore a work of art, encouraging us to imagine the textures, smells, and even tastes of what is depicted. This is equally true for writers, particularly poets.

Lesson Process:

Each of the required art images above can appeal to more than one of our five senses. Explore the works of art with your students, have them discuss what they see, then what they smell, taste, feel or hear. Make a class list of their responses for each sense and painting.

Activity #1:

Bring a selection of fruits and other foods into the classroom. Have children select items and construct their own “still life” to imitate one of the works mentioned above. Children can talk about the choices they made and which work they tried to imitate. After the still lifes have been constructed and discussed, children can celebrate by eating them.

Activity #2:

Children’s stories and poems may also appeal to the senses. Read a story or poem and have children talk about which words or phrases relate to which senses. Books and selections from Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss are wonderful choices for this activity.

Create a class poem based on one of the works of art listed above that appeals to the senses, based on one of the works listed above. (Les Peches, Still Life with Roses in a Fluted Vase, Cuirassier Armor and Pepper-Pot would be particularly good choices. Use the following template:

Today I jumped into a painting!
I saw_____________________
I heard____________________
I smelled__________________
I tasted____________________
It made me_________________

Activity #3:

Using construction paper, cut out a shape found in one of the paintings (i.e., a circle, an oval, etc.). Have children walk around the classroom with their construction paper cutout to see if they can find objects in the room that have the same shape. Make a list of shapes and of classroom objects that match those shapes.

Activity #4:

Have students collect found items from around their homes and the classroom (this can be an ongoing collection, useful for many activities). Glue the items to a piece of plywood to create a collage (these can also be painted). Use the collage to talk about texture and touch.

Book Suggestions:

• A is for Art Museum, by Katy Friedland and Marla K. Shoemaker (Philadelphia Museum of Art. 2008)
• More than Meets the Eye: Seeing Art with All Five Senses, by Bob Raczka (Millbrook Press, 2003)
• Any book from the Come Look With Me series (Charlesbridge Publishing)
• Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold (Crown Publishers, 1991)

For more information, please contact Education: School & Teacher Programs by phone at (215) 684-7580, by fax at (215) 236-4063, or by e-mail at .