henri matisse

An artist is an explorer.

- Henri Matisse

This week, we read a story about the artist Henri Matisse. Matisse worked with different kinds of mediums, but it was his work cutting paper that we talked about and explored. The colorful images in the read aloud told the story of Matisse and his passion for drawing with scissors. We talked about how artists plan each piece, play with their work, and fill their entire canvas. 

For some children, the shapes they cut out told a story; a robotic person in all green, a collection of hearts, a long twisted beak. We talked about how scissors and glue sticks are tools, revisiting ways we care for tools in our classroom. All of the children were incredibly engaged throughout our experience, interested in the shapes they were cutting, and happily telling their peers about their work. 

I connected the children's creative exploration of cutting and design to our conversations about shapes and work with pattern blocks. Putting pattern blocks together in many different ways allowed children to practice the act of playing with their work - essentially a similar process to designing and creating their Matisse canvas! It's important to provide opportunities for children to represent their ideas in a variety of ways and to make connections between our learning experiences.