Autumnal heads

 

 

Autumnal heads inspired by Day of the Dead

The year 5 class at Dunkirk had been really inspired by images of the Mexican Day of the Dead which they had looked at with their teacher.  So when we all got out onto the school allotment we created a set of clay heads adorned with autumnal finds.  The children wanted to make their creations as colourful as possible and spent ages searching for things in the hedgerows and amongst all the fallen leaves.

          

 

We took lots of photos of their creations and the children left them outside to watch what would happen (as it’s real clay (rather than air-hardening) this is fine to leave outside).  When I returned to the site the following day with the reception and then the year 1 children, they were really interested in the work left by the year 5 class.  They made up stories and a host of their own creations all inspired by the work of the older children. 

 

 

 

It had rained too, so the heads had taken on a whole new set of qualities as they had sat in rain-water.

I do love the incidental discoveries and conversations that happen whilst making things in this way.  The children notice so much about the leaves and seasonal changes – and this prompts so many questions.  They find all sorts of qualities in the natural materials as they use them – and they invent ways to use the resources around them.