Understanding the difference between two and three dimensions is made easier when you go from making a flat thing to a 3D model. For my young art students' second architecture project, we went from one wall to four walls before adding a roof. Again, the building process begins when I ask each student if they wanted a tall or short house, and then ask what kind of roof they wanted. The houses looked very similar to their flat counter-parts, but they lined up to make a little neighborhood, and this made it easy to talk about materials. I brought in linoleum and ceramic tile. They could here the different sound each surface material made when it was tapped on the table. Feeling wood and the bricks on the outside of the building made for another interesting comparison, since both bricks and tiles are made from clay.
We get into the concept of form following function as I explain to them about the benefit of having sloped roofs in keeping rain and snow from sitting on top of the house, and the fact that eaves can keep water away from the siding and foundation. I tell them that 400 years ago, when people stood under the eaves to get out of the rain, they could hear what was being said from open windows, which was how the word "eaves-dropping" originated.
Little kids love to play along as I retell the "3 Little Pigs." I only half-way tell, it since they know the lines, "Little Pig, little pig let me in!" and "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!" well enough to finish them. And even a non-verbal student blew on the house every time the wolf said he'd huff and puff. We removed one of the 3 houses for each phase and made sure that the last house had a chimney. It only takes a few minutes to incorporate language arts, or vocabulary (such as surface treatments and building supplies) in a way that will help them understand the world around them. Art classes are about so much more than learning how to make art.
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