Our combined workshop of Drama and Art Therapy started two days ago.As a lot of times down in the South, things did not go the exact way we planned them to go, especially due to a much bigger group of attending children than expected...
We felt quite well-prepared, with 17 plain masks ready to decorate for the children. Of course, in a project where there's up to 80 children each day - it is difficult to decide whom to "play" with.
There are 4 groups, of different ages, accompained by the teachers - we thought we worked with one of them. In the end another teacher didn't come that day, why we chose to work with two groups. We weren't worried about it, as few children of both groups had shown up so far.
But during the day, more and more children came to join us, curious about the other busy painting and decoratoring children.
We couldn't resist to improvise some more plain masks, so that all the children could take part in the activity.
It was chaotic at times, as you can imagine. Especially when on the second day, even more children came to participate and Ellen stayed at home because of a little illness. Fortunately I had help by two volunteers and two of the teachers.
Individually, I talked to some of the children - I saw their joy and happiness, playing with the paint and the glitter, identifying somehow with the mask when I asked them what emotion they expressed.
There are 4 groups, of different ages, accompained by the teachers - we thought we worked with one of them. In the end another teacher didn't come that day, why we chose to work with two groups. We weren't worried about it, as few children of both groups had shown up so far.
But during the day, more and more children came to join us, curious about the other busy painting and decoratoring children.
We couldn't resist to improvise some more plain masks, so that all the children could take part in the activity.
It was chaotic at times, as you can imagine. Especially when on the second day, even more children came to participate and Ellen stayed at home because of a little illness. Fortunately I had help by two volunteers and two of the teachers.
Individually, I talked to some of the children - I saw their joy and happiness, playing with the paint and the glitter, identifying somehow with the mask when I asked them what emotion they expressed.
In the end, we reflected on the activity with about 30 children between 7 and 15 years. Today we will give a clear limit - we will work with only one group - either the older or the younger one, but not with both. Making use of the created masks, Ellen is going to introduce a drama activity - playing some scenes and evaluating them with the children. I am happy to be able to observe today and to learn from her.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment