Since we finished the Rainbow Light Project we've been lucky enough to have a huge stream of excellent speakers at group meetings, keeping the children interested in a wide variety of topics.
Firstly, we've had Sally from Benjamin Franklin House doing an excellent series of 3 sessions on different aspects of science with us. Despite the talks being more aimed at the older children, many of the 5s and over have been spellbound and fascinated too.
Then we had James from Medecins Sans Frontieres talking about the history of the MSF, the Red Cross and other aid agencies who do medical and humanitarian work in war-zones. We were a little twitchy before the talk, about how he would put this across sensitively for his young audience, but he was an excellent speaker who managed to engage the children and tell them the honest situation but never overwhelming or upsetting them.
We've also had a visit from one of the coaches from AFC Wimbledon who did a long and active football session on a very hot day until everyone was beetroot red and had steam coming out of their ears!
We then had another group visit to Horton Park Children's Farm - their group price is a huge bargain and the children thoroughly enjoy the free tractor ride which is part of the price, as well as the animals, play barn and fantastic wooden playground equipment and outdoor trampoline.
And most recently, we've been entertained by a visit from Janet the Storyteller who got children small and bigger up and taking part in her active stories.
And so, we continue on right through the summer when many other groups and activities stop for a summer break. There may be fewer families during this time, but that just makes for a more intimate atmosphere and a more bonding experience for those who are around.
See you there!
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Performance and music video
The performance was a triumph, with the Charles Cryer Theatre almost filled with friends, family and onlookers. The performers were great on the day, despite nerves beforehand: Charlotte and Thomas performed poems they had chosen, Freya sang a poem of her own composition, and Tobias and Rosie read poems of their own composition, in addition to opera pieces by Hugh and Daragh, I Can Sing A Rainbow with sign lanmguage actions, David's newly-finished Rainbow Lights Song, and the finale - the song Run With Us.
To see the music video which the fabulous Sutton Film Makers made for the song, see here.
To see the music video which the fabulous Sutton Film Makers made for the song, see here.
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Scenery Painting
Another busy week, but lots of fun was had by all. The children enjoyed colourful freestyle painting on huge opened-out cardboard boxes which will be used as scenery for the upcoming performance at 2pm on 22nd May at the Charles Cryer Theatre. We also painted a large rainbow to use as part of the display at the Europa Gallery 17th-21st May.
In sorting out all the artwork we had amassed from all the children over the weeks of the project, it was clear we had inspired the creativity of both the children and the adults. The light boxes are almost done and look incredibly effective and we have also illustrated almost every line of the song. The Sutton Amateur Film-Makers Society have been very generous in offering their time to make a music video for the song, and one of our parents is also editing the reams of footage of the Project we have already shot.
In sorting out all the artwork we had amassed from all the children over the weeks of the project, it was clear we had inspired the creativity of both the children and the adults. The light boxes are almost done and look incredibly effective and we have also illustrated almost every line of the song. The Sutton Amateur Film-Makers Society have been very generous in offering their time to make a music video for the song, and one of our parents is also editing the reams of footage of the Project we have already shot.
A Poem on Black & White by Amy
The night is silent, silent like pleasure
Tripping and turning bends, like honey seeping,
The golden combs, like an unheard murmur of
A silent sort, silent, like a trembling witness
Too scared to speak.
The night is silent, silent like pleasure
Tripping and turning bends, like honey seeping,
The golden combs, like an unheard murmur of
A silent sort, silent, like a trembling witness
Too scared to speak.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Songs and Light Boxes
Today we didn't have a particular colour to talk about, but the light box making swung into action. Many of the smaller children greatly enjoyed splashing lots of white paint about as we covered the inside of nine cardboard boxes to make a nice reflective surface for the coloured cellophane and fairy lights.
The first few boxes were finished off and looked fantastic as the colours glowed out when the lights were switched on.
The song-writing group unveiled the full song for the first time and we were all bowled over. The chorus was so catchy that I overheard many of the adults and children singing it under their breath as they went about other activities during the rest of the session.
The planning is fully underway now with the performance and display less than a month away. We divided up the song into separate lines and lots of the children spent some time illustrating a line or two each. This resulted in some colourful and highly creative pictures.
The first few boxes were finished off and looked fantastic as the colours glowed out when the lights were switched on.
The song-writing group unveiled the full song for the first time and we were all bowled over. The chorus was so catchy that I overheard many of the adults and children singing it under their breath as they went about other activities during the rest of the session.
The planning is fully underway now with the performance and display less than a month away. We divided up the song into separate lines and lots of the children spent some time illustrating a line or two each. This resulted in some colourful and highly creative pictures.
Rainbow by Freya
Red is rubies, red is anger,
Red is the king, red is the queen,
Red, red, is everywhere.
Red, red is everywhere but orange is harder to find.
Orange is an orange, orange can be cheese,
Orange can be a flag,
Orange can be on a pretty mug,
Orange can be a little bug,
Orange, orange is everywhere.
Yellow is mellow, yellow is a bee's honey,
Yellow is a beach ball, yellow is the sun,
Quite a few things are yellow.
Green is grass and green is fast,
Green is a green light,
Green is a balloon and green is great.
Blue is calm, blue is fast,
Blue is relaxed,
Blue is the sea and the sky.
Indigo and violet are flowers and berries,
Indigo, violet, indigo, violet,
Indigo is bad and good, so is violet.
Red is rubies, red is anger,
Red is the king, red is the queen,
Red, red, is everywhere.
Red, red is everywhere but orange is harder to find.
Orange is an orange, orange can be cheese,
Orange can be a flag,
Orange can be on a pretty mug,
Orange can be a little bug,
Orange, orange is everywhere.
Yellow is mellow, yellow is a bee's honey,
Yellow is a beach ball, yellow is the sun,
Quite a few things are yellow.
Green is grass and green is fast,
Green is a green light,
Green is a balloon and green is great.
Blue is calm, blue is fast,
Blue is relaxed,
Blue is the sea and the sky.
Indigo and violet are flowers and berries,
Indigo, violet, indigo, violet,
Indigo is bad and good, so is violet.
Friday, 23 April 2010
Violet
On Thursday 22nd April we thought about violet. The first thing we discussed about violet was – what colour is it? As with indigo, this was another disputed shade with some thinking it was nearer pink, others that it was a bright and vibrant purple and yet others hovering between the two. We looked at the flowers called Violets in the hope of finding a definitive answer but found that even these could come in different shades, though they were definitely more purple than pink.
Lots of people in the group had violet (purple) as their favourite colour and even more liked purple and pink or purple and blue. Heath thought violet helped him to go to sleep and made him think of night-time meditations while Rosie thought that too much of it would make her feel gloomy and it would be a bit much.
There are lots of purple foods and the foods we had at the session included: grapes, aubergines, red onions, beetroot, plums, prunes, blueberries, blackberries, red cabbage, pomegranate and purple-sprouting broccoli.
Freya did a puppet show for us with home-made puppets showing us a story of how the sun people and rain people learned to work together by making a rainbow.
Isaac had made a beautifully-coloured American pelican, with gorgeous blues, reds and purples.
Daragh had brought in Mr Cheeky, a rare purple Mr Man which was made in response to a little girl's idea in a competition. He had also brought in Spiro the Dragon who is also mainly pruple.
Hugh had brought in Rockstar Penguin from Club Penguin and a Bugs Bunny dressed as a King or Emperor with a sumptuous purple cloak. This brought up the idea of purple being a royal colour and it was noted that this had also come up during the visit to Hampton Court that some of the children had been on the day before.
Amy and Mandy had done a survey of what people in general outside of the group thought of violet/purple and death came up a lot – it was a colour thought acceptable to wear at funerals. It was also associated with sadness and with the sweets Parma Violets. When Amy suggested to one man that maybe purple was a royal colour, he disagreed and thought gold was more of a royal colour.
Harrison had brought in a picture he'd made using a purple chocolate wrapper and spelling out 'I love you'. He'd also brought a 'spy pen' which could write invisible writing and then make it visible by using a small ultra-violet light on the end of the pen. We noted that humans can't actually see ultra-violet light, only its reflection against other things, and that it is the next colour along in the spectrum after violet.
Lois had done a beautiful and colourful painting of a rainbow with herself and Jonathan sheltering beneath it, and she and Jonathan had also done some lovely night cityscapes with rich violet skies and silhouettes of buildings in the foreground.
Charlie had also done a picture of rain and a rainbow with some writing about violet, as follows:
Lots of people in the group had violet (purple) as their favourite colour and even more liked purple and pink or purple and blue. Heath thought violet helped him to go to sleep and made him think of night-time meditations while Rosie thought that too much of it would make her feel gloomy and it would be a bit much.
There are lots of purple foods and the foods we had at the session included: grapes, aubergines, red onions, beetroot, plums, prunes, blueberries, blackberries, red cabbage, pomegranate and purple-sprouting broccoli.
Freya did a puppet show for us with home-made puppets showing us a story of how the sun people and rain people learned to work together by making a rainbow.
Isaac had made a beautifully-coloured American pelican, with gorgeous blues, reds and purples.
Daragh had brought in Mr Cheeky, a rare purple Mr Man which was made in response to a little girl's idea in a competition. He had also brought in Spiro the Dragon who is also mainly pruple.
Hugh had brought in Rockstar Penguin from Club Penguin and a Bugs Bunny dressed as a King or Emperor with a sumptuous purple cloak. This brought up the idea of purple being a royal colour and it was noted that this had also come up during the visit to Hampton Court that some of the children had been on the day before.
Amy and Mandy had done a survey of what people in general outside of the group thought of violet/purple and death came up a lot – it was a colour thought acceptable to wear at funerals. It was also associated with sadness and with the sweets Parma Violets. When Amy suggested to one man that maybe purple was a royal colour, he disagreed and thought gold was more of a royal colour.
Harrison had brought in a picture he'd made using a purple chocolate wrapper and spelling out 'I love you'. He'd also brought a 'spy pen' which could write invisible writing and then make it visible by using a small ultra-violet light on the end of the pen. We noted that humans can't actually see ultra-violet light, only its reflection against other things, and that it is the next colour along in the spectrum after violet.
Lois had done a beautiful and colourful painting of a rainbow with herself and Jonathan sheltering beneath it, and she and Jonathan had also done some lovely night cityscapes with rich violet skies and silhouettes of buildings in the foreground.
Charlie had also done a picture of rain and a rainbow with some writing about violet, as follows:
Violet by Charlie
Violet is the highest colour in the visible spectrum – it is the seventh colour of the rainbow – it is the colour on the inner edge. Violet is sometimes confused with purple. The name of the colour comes from the violet, which is a small flower grown in most parts of the world. In colour therapy, it signifies the Crown Chakra. Charlie likes violet because it is like the colour purple. Charlie likes wild violet flowers and Parma Violet sweets.
Friday, 16 April 2010
Blue and Indigo
On Thursday 15th April, we thought about blue and indigo. There were relatively few families this week (only sixteen families), with several regular families absent through illness or holidays, but it's difficult to say if fewer people or the colours blue and indigo were the cause of the calm feeling. The blue display was magnificent with clothing, artwork and photos as well as a very imaginative display of blue food including blueberries, blue corn tortilla chips and blue Smarties.
We started with Heath's poem as he was desperate to read it out:
Freya's poem was also a song and she sang it for us:
And this was Amy's poem on blue:
Blue made people think of a wide variety of things. Hana said that blue was her favourite colour and the blue display made her want to just dive in and disappear. For Daragh, blue made him think of a Dalek's spots. Lots of people thought of the sea and the sky when they thought of blue.
We also thought of blue football strips, such as Italy and Chelsea, as well as Thomas the Tank Engine who is blue. Heath had brought a blue kaleidoscope to show.
Heath thought that blue was a calm colour and it helped him to go to sleep and Freya agreed. Yahya said that blue made him think of going to Italy and going in the sea in swimming trunks. Amy said that blue reminded her of spirals but wasn't sure why, which was interesting as in many ancient cultural symbols, spirals and swirls represent water.
Emmie-Mae had brought in her Barbies Hadley and Delia, all dressed in blue and Emmie-Mae herself had a blue princess gown on. Lois had brought in some Mr Men books showing blue Mr Men, including Mr Bump. Jonathan had brought in a book about the blue whale.
We discussed blue foods and noted that there weren't that many of them – blueberries, plums, blue grapes, blue potatoes, blue corn and blue cheeses. There are many more blue flowers though including bluebells, and blue animals include peacocks, dragonflies and butterflies, as well as whales. There are also quite a few jewels which are blue including sapphires, blue diamonds, blue topazes and ultramarines.
A suggestion of amethysts led us on to indigo and trying to define it. It turned out that many of us had very different ideas as what indigo actually meant. Some of us thoughts indigo was merely a shade of blue while others thought it was actually an individual colour. Most people either seemed to think it was a navy blue, or a bit more purply than that.
Jae told us about how the dye indigo is used in the manufacture of jeans.
We then moved on to blue activities – Frances had brought blue play dough and Sinead showed the experiment where different foods were tested with iodine and those which contain carbohydrate turn blue. We also made giant seascapes with blue paint and materials and blue junk modelling.
We started with Heath's poem as he was desperate to read it out:
Blue by Heath
Blue is nice and blue is fun,
Blue is blueberries
And blue is really, really nice.
It's a lovely colour.
The end.
Blue is nice and blue is fun,
Blue is blueberries
And blue is really, really nice.
It's a lovely colour.
The end.
Freya's poem was also a song and she sang it for us:
Blue by Freya
You want to go out when the sky is blue,
But stay in when the clouds are blue.
Blue is calm and blue is fun,
Blue is bright and blue is dark.
So, come on and sing about blue, do!
Blue is in the rainbow.
You want to go out when the sky is blue,
But stay in when the clouds are blue.
Blue is calm and blue is fun,
Blue is bright and blue is dark.
So, come on and sing about blue, do!
Blue is in the rainbow.
And this was Amy's poem on blue:
What is life? By Amy
Our bodies are an ocean
and our tear drops are sea water.
In the end we die of stress,
stress of having to keep the damp gold fish alive
stress of failure to find love,
to be happy, to even force a sort of smile,
and you can hear that unloving voice saying
"you failed the world, John, Amy," and who ever else,
but our names are just plankton floating in our ocean bodies.
Our bodies are an ocean
and our tear drops are sea water.
In the end we die of stress,
stress of having to keep the damp gold fish alive
stress of failure to find love,
to be happy, to even force a sort of smile,
and you can hear that unloving voice saying
"you failed the world, John, Amy," and who ever else,
but our names are just plankton floating in our ocean bodies.
Blue made people think of a wide variety of things. Hana said that blue was her favourite colour and the blue display made her want to just dive in and disappear. For Daragh, blue made him think of a Dalek's spots. Lots of people thought of the sea and the sky when they thought of blue.
We also thought of blue football strips, such as Italy and Chelsea, as well as Thomas the Tank Engine who is blue. Heath had brought a blue kaleidoscope to show.
Heath thought that blue was a calm colour and it helped him to go to sleep and Freya agreed. Yahya said that blue made him think of going to Italy and going in the sea in swimming trunks. Amy said that blue reminded her of spirals but wasn't sure why, which was interesting as in many ancient cultural symbols, spirals and swirls represent water.
Emmie-Mae had brought in her Barbies Hadley and Delia, all dressed in blue and Emmie-Mae herself had a blue princess gown on. Lois had brought in some Mr Men books showing blue Mr Men, including Mr Bump. Jonathan had brought in a book about the blue whale.
We discussed blue foods and noted that there weren't that many of them – blueberries, plums, blue grapes, blue potatoes, blue corn and blue cheeses. There are many more blue flowers though including bluebells, and blue animals include peacocks, dragonflies and butterflies, as well as whales. There are also quite a few jewels which are blue including sapphires, blue diamonds, blue topazes and ultramarines.
A suggestion of amethysts led us on to indigo and trying to define it. It turned out that many of us had very different ideas as what indigo actually meant. Some of us thoughts indigo was merely a shade of blue while others thought it was actually an individual colour. Most people either seemed to think it was a navy blue, or a bit more purply than that.
Jae told us about how the dye indigo is used in the manufacture of jeans.
We then moved on to blue activities – Frances had brought blue play dough and Sinead showed the experiment where different foods were tested with iodine and those which contain carbohydrate turn blue. We also made giant seascapes with blue paint and materials and blue junk modelling.
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Green
Today we thought about green.
We had a fantastic spread of green fabric, dresses, books, food, craft and lots of other stuff today on the display table. Vicky thought that the swirls of green looked like she'd just walked into the ocean and with the sun shining in through the windows (finally!) there was a greenish light in the hall which was very soothing.
We started off the brain-storming by talking about the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz which had been designed as that colour to reflect the colour of the American dollar and thus represent America.
We went on to nature and how so many things in the natural world are green. We didn't name all the plants which were green or we'd have been there for ever, but we talked about most plants which grow in the sunshine are green due to the presence of chlorophyll. We thought of green fruits and vegetables and came up with: avocado, broccoli, grapes, cucumbers, apples, peas, lettuce, cabbage, limes, courgettes, artichokes, sprouts, basil, parsley and kiwi fruit. Animals we thought of were: frogs, lizards, crocodiles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, dinosaurs, parrots, parakeets and other tropical birds, and green woodpeckers.
We discussed how the colour green makes us feel: fresh, happy, go, relaxed.
We thought of fictional characters which are green in body or hair or wear green: Peter Pan, the Wicked Witch, the Joker, Ben 10, Mr Men, Robin Hood, aliens, Jolly Green Giant, Incredible Hulk, Shrek, the Grinch, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Green Power Ranger, the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
We mentioned that green is in a lot of countries' flags – it's a sacred colour in Islam so is in the flags of a lot of Islamic countries.
Green is also used as a shorthand to mean looking after the natural world, looking after the planet and other environmental issues, such as in Greenpeace and the Green Party. This association can also be seen in the colour used most often for packaging of organic food.
Harrison had made a fantastic herb picture which he showed us – it was made of sprigs of various green herbs which could also be sniffed, so the viewer could see and smell each herb.
Charlotte had written a story and a poem:
Once upon a time there was a rainbow who decided to go adventuring. He crept into the sky and just then the rain poured down and the sun shone – and he came right up into the sky.
This is a story of a rainbow and a pen named Thomas. Thomas was its name. A talking pencil spoke to the pen and the rainbow spoke to both of them. The pen and the pencil drew a rainbow together.
One day Wendy went out of her house. Bob the Builder's house was next door and she went to see him. They decided to build a tree house and a toy train.
Isaac had brought a painting he had done all in shades of green. It had been done mainly with his fingers.
Freya had made a rosette-type badge out of green crepe paper with trailing crepe paper ribbons.
Emmie-Mae had a green lunch – all green food with a green knife and fork and everything.
Harrison pointed out that if you mixed the yellow writing on the blue background of his T-shirt it made green.
Heath had chosen a green toy truck to bring, but his mum had forgotten to pack it!
Our green activities today included making green slime out of gelatine, water, syrup and food colouring. It smelt like candy floss and apparently tasted sweet for those brave enough to try it, as it really looked horribly gloopy and snotty.
Mandy made moss gardens with some of the children – with small individual clay holders and tiny frogs and owls to sit inside them.
Frances had brought green play dough, which is always popular, and also green pots to plant cress in and make cress-heads. The children added faces, arms and feet to the pots and took them home to wait for the 'hair' to sprout from the top.
We also made snakes out of paper plates cut in a spiral and decorated. The children were much more imaginative than to stick to just green for the snakes though.
We decorated some green cellophane ready for use in our green light box, and ended with some parachute games.
We had a fantastic spread of green fabric, dresses, books, food, craft and lots of other stuff today on the display table. Vicky thought that the swirls of green looked like she'd just walked into the ocean and with the sun shining in through the windows (finally!) there was a greenish light in the hall which was very soothing.
We started off the brain-storming by talking about the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz which had been designed as that colour to reflect the colour of the American dollar and thus represent America.
We went on to nature and how so many things in the natural world are green. We didn't name all the plants which were green or we'd have been there for ever, but we talked about most plants which grow in the sunshine are green due to the presence of chlorophyll. We thought of green fruits and vegetables and came up with: avocado, broccoli, grapes, cucumbers, apples, peas, lettuce, cabbage, limes, courgettes, artichokes, sprouts, basil, parsley and kiwi fruit. Animals we thought of were: frogs, lizards, crocodiles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, dinosaurs, parrots, parakeets and other tropical birds, and green woodpeckers.
We discussed how the colour green makes us feel: fresh, happy, go, relaxed.
We thought of fictional characters which are green in body or hair or wear green: Peter Pan, the Wicked Witch, the Joker, Ben 10, Mr Men, Robin Hood, aliens, Jolly Green Giant, Incredible Hulk, Shrek, the Grinch, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Green Power Ranger, the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
We mentioned that green is in a lot of countries' flags – it's a sacred colour in Islam so is in the flags of a lot of Islamic countries.
Green is also used as a shorthand to mean looking after the natural world, looking after the planet and other environmental issues, such as in Greenpeace and the Green Party. This association can also be seen in the colour used most often for packaging of organic food.
Harrison had made a fantastic herb picture which he showed us – it was made of sprigs of various green herbs which could also be sniffed, so the viewer could see and smell each herb.
Charlotte had written a story and a poem:
Green Grass by Charlotte
Green is fresh,
Green grass.
The green grass is as fresh as anything.
Fresh grass.
It shines so much for me,
And it's really nice.
Green is fresh,
Green grass.
The green grass is as fresh as anything.
Fresh grass.
It shines so much for me,
And it's really nice.
The Rainbow by Charlotte
Once upon a time there was a rainbow who decided to go adventuring. He crept into the sky and just then the rain poured down and the sun shone – and he came right up into the sky.
Rainbow Story by Thomas
This is a story of a rainbow and a pen named Thomas. Thomas was its name. A talking pencil spoke to the pen and the rainbow spoke to both of them. The pen and the pencil drew a rainbow together.
A Green Builder by Thomas
One day Wendy went out of her house. Bob the Builder's house was next door and she went to see him. They decided to build a tree house and a toy train.
Isaac had brought a painting he had done all in shades of green. It had been done mainly with his fingers.
Freya had made a rosette-type badge out of green crepe paper with trailing crepe paper ribbons.
Emmie-Mae had a green lunch – all green food with a green knife and fork and everything.
Harrison pointed out that if you mixed the yellow writing on the blue background of his T-shirt it made green.
Heath had chosen a green toy truck to bring, but his mum had forgotten to pack it!
Our green activities today included making green slime out of gelatine, water, syrup and food colouring. It smelt like candy floss and apparently tasted sweet for those brave enough to try it, as it really looked horribly gloopy and snotty.
Mandy made moss gardens with some of the children – with small individual clay holders and tiny frogs and owls to sit inside them.
Frances had brought green play dough, which is always popular, and also green pots to plant cress in and make cress-heads. The children added faces, arms and feet to the pots and took them home to wait for the 'hair' to sprout from the top.
We also made snakes out of paper plates cut in a spiral and decorated. The children were much more imaginative than to stick to just green for the snakes though.
We decorated some green cellophane ready for use in our green light box, and ended with some parachute games.
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