Literature is very important for me to integrate into my art program. So when I found the book The Magic Nesting Dolls by Jacqueline K. Ogburn I knew I had to use that book to inspire a lesson. I also have a set of nesting dolls that I bought on a trip to Scotland, many years ago.
I started the discussion with my students, before showing them anything, by asking them, "What are some of the different ways to tell a story?" The answers from my students were: books, pictures, your voice ('cause the story's in your head), and one little fellow said "videos". His answer, in my opinion made him a Rock Star! I haven't done this lesson for years, you know, before needing to come up with Essential Questions. Soooo in the past I tied it into art, but this time I decided to tie it into storytelling. And before that student said videos it didn't even occur to me just how many ways people tell stories. I also mentioned how stories have been passed down through history.
I showed them my nesting dolls and read the book to them. The book does take a while to read, but they loved it. It really made them think about the story they would use for their nesting doll art.
I modeled how to trace the doll shapes and how to share the set of tracers so that no one was waiting to start. One student starts with the smallest doll tracer while the other starts with the largest doll tracer.
I also did an inspiration sheet for them containing a variety of patterns that they can use on their dolls. I Googled nesting dolls coloring sheets to come up with the assortment for them to look at.
I am really looking forward to seeing the finished work of the dolls above!
Meanwhile here are some that did finish! LOVE THEM!
Having seen real nesting dolls my students were very disappointed, and that's putting it mildly, that they weren't doing their dolls on wood. Especially since it was so cool to take each of them out as part of the story. After putting some thought to it, I came up with cutting them out and putting a pocket onto the back of the largest doll so that the others would fit into it.
Sorry, I hope you can see it, I haven't finished my sample and I misplaced my original sample for this project.
My 2nd and 3rd graders did the Nesting Dolls while my little ones in kindergarten and first did hand puppets. I basically started out with the same discussion. I read them the book below. Then told them the story with a sample hand puppet I made. There are many versions of this book that you can find here.
They had options as to the color of the construction paper to use to best match their hand. I had hand and oval tracers for them to use. A few wanted to know if they could trace their own hands. I told them that was an option, but to consider just how small their fingers are and that they might just want to do both. You can see that in the photo above on the right.
They could also make up their own story.
When they finished they were encouraged to find someone to share their story with. It was adorable!
What are some of the ways you incorporate literature in you program? I'd love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading!
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