Black and White

There was a funny feeling in the air today (Thursday 18th March) which many of us are inclined to feel has something to do with the energetic changes of the Spring Equinox, when day and night are delivered in equal amounts. Many parents and kids felt it, although Samia was feeling unusually uncreative – in fact she was feeling frustrated simply attempting to put black and white on anything and stuck with filming the proceedings a bit and making notes and being in the background - as much as the vibrant Samia is ever simply in the background.

We decided to put black and white into the project here as it tied so well with the Spring Equinox (21st March) and the balance of light and dark at this time of the year. As has become usual, we all arrived dressed in various combinations of black and white and decked the back wall out in an array of black and white from pictures, artwork, fabrics, 80s ballgowns, and foods – olives, grapes, blueberries, popcorn.

Freya, during the brainstorm, created a playdoh model and proceeded to use this to demonstrate a solar eclipse – here's the Sun (all white), here's the Moon crossing it (½ black and ½ white), now here's the Moon, covering the Sun completely (all black) and vice versa.

Yahya showed us a canvas that he made with Samia. They didn't know what it was going to be to start with but it became a black and white volcano with glittery effects. He then busied himself with the challenge of making a play doh Panda (he succeeded, and it was funny when he showed it and the head fell off and rolled onto the floor while he was looking the other way).

Sophia used a book to demonstrate the optical illusion created by closely packed black and white lines and circles. Lois had brought a Panda and a story book, Pi-Shu, The Little Panda. Jonathan had written a fantastic poem:

A Poem by Jonathan

Sweets made of liquorice,
Uniforms, the police,
Animations,
101 Dalmatians,
Playing dominoes,
Looking at old photos,
Orca in the ocean deep,
Zebra, penguin, panda, sheep
In their flocks,
The Spring Equinox,
Dark and light,
Black and white.

Amy had also written an incredibly creative poem:

Black and White by Amy

Black and white,
Female and male,
A Persian cat's fluffy white tail.
A carpet of snow,
The white clouds surrounding a rainbow.
A chessboard, the knight, the rook.
The moon, the sky,
The tears we cry,
Black in sorrow,
Waiting for tomorrow.

Harrison showed us what we can do with charcoal and printing. Max had brought in his black and white cuddly toys, and a couple of books Night Pirates and Funny Bones.

We asked who has black hair and noted that truly black hair was quite rare. We surveyed who thinks black is a colour, and white is a colour or not. We also asked what we think of when we think of black? Responses included:

"Moody" - Charlie
"Nylon tights" – Amy
"Boring" – Yahya
"Evil" – Rosie
"Tyres" – Harrison
"Piano" – Emmie Mae
"Ninjas" – Isaac
"Superstitions, black cats" – Amy

As well as mystery, and negative associations, black is also associated with wisdom, experience and authority as in black belts in martial arts, police uniforms, and the clothes of judges and lawyers. Politically, it's associated with non-conformity and anarchism.

Someone suggested that guns are black and Yahya corrected them and told us that not all guns are black.

Isaac reminded us that nocturnal animals can see well in the dark.

White made us think of:

"Peace" – Rosie
"Brides and angels" – Emmie Mae
"Ghosts" – Freya
"Pages in books and inside cups" – Isaac


After all the discussion on the colours, we discussed the Summer Solstice which has the most daylight hours and the Winter Solstice which has the least and then asked if anyone knew why. Liz demonstrated why using her body, with assistance from Jae & Emmie Mae, and we watched the earth rotate at an angle around the sun while the moon rotated too. Much giggling ensued. There was a rather Monty Python moment as Liz attempted to rotate and tilt at the same time – we all got up and joined in, it is awkward!

Lastly we finished up with a Spiral Dance and then the craft activities began based on the Black and White theme – houses at night, finger printing with charcoal, general black and white crafts session and Hana and Daphne created this weeks Black and White polythene strip for later use with the light boxes.

We also dedicated 20 minutes to learning the sign language version of I Can Sing a Rainbow which will be part of our performance at the Charles Cryer Theatre on 22nd May.