"Puppet Play" project @ HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center.4 8/26/2021

 

HSC Bensonhurst Senior Center

Puppet Project

Blog 4 8/26/2021

Building on the puppet making skills our students had already gained and utilizing the drawings they did last week as reference, we launched into making an animal head puppet. We played a word association game to warm up. I gave them the name of one of the animals they’d drawn and asked them to say the first thing that came to mind about that animal’s traits or characteristics. For “horse”, Ru Ping mentioned its spirit and how uplifting it is, while Lao Yu gave the Chinese example of a young man being as “handsome as a horse” and Stella offered a racetrack. Jing Wei thought of the trait of gentleness when I said “rabbit” and So Sim shared the cute bunny she crocheted from an internet class. For ox, our students agreed on hard - worker, devoted, and giving. 

The students decided on what animal they would make, Lao Yu, the ox, Stella a goat, Pun a snake, So Sim and Sook Fong, a rabbit, Jing Wei and Hui Fen, a tiger. Using the small puppet head, they made in the first class and their drawings as reference, they prepared pieces of masking tape and then crumpled newspaper, using it like clay to change the shape of the ball then secured it with the tape. Next, they fashioned ears and horns from cardboard, covered them in newspaper and attached them to the head. 

Once they felt their animal head was in good shape, it was time to add the tissue paper as “skin”. We encouraged them to use whatever color they liked, as it didn’t have to be realistic. After ripping the tissue paper into small pieces, they glued it onto the head overlapping each piece to create a smooth texture. This activity is painstaking so we encouraged them to complete it for homework so next week we can bring our animal head alive with eyes and a mouth and adding other features.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FAMILY ALBUM POP-UP BOOK MAKING @ QUEENS PUBLIC LIBRARY.7 8/23/2021

Image
  QUEENS PUBLIC LIBRARY - CREATIVE AGING PROGRAM FAMILY ALBUM POP-UP BOOK MAKING Blog 7 8/23/21 As Madlyn was out today she arranged for Kathy and Willie to moderate our program in her place. Thanks very much Kathy and Willie! We had fun warming up our imaginations by thinking of words that best describe us then using gestures to express the word. The final page of the pop-up book is a self-portrait, so this activity helped fire up our brains. Once the base page was folded, we reviewed how to make V Fold Stands. Students made two V Fold Stands and glued them into the base page. Next, they learned a new skill - pocket making. Thinking about the word or words they used to describe themselves, they drew a reflective shape and with a sharpie, wrote the word inside. The word, decorated if desired, was placed in the pocket. Once the page is opened, this word is revealed to help in storytelling.  Another technique learned in an earlier class and reviewed was making the background. O...
Read more

Bensonhurst Senior Center Holiday Party 12/30/2020

Image
Celebrating with our students is a perfect way to see out the old year and welcome in the new. 6am New Year’s Eve I logged onto zoom to smiling faces and a very warm welcome from everyone. Thank you to Hong for organizing our holiday party and a huge shout out to Chip Ma, Winnie Don Lee, and Karen Zhou for all their support and encouragement during this most difficult of years.    This is the season when we traditionally give gifts but separated as we are because of COVID-19 restrictions, we can still share the greatest gift of all, togetherness via technology. We shared stories of family.   Lao Yu inspired us with the story of how her family has spent their quarantine by documenting their footprint in the USA back to her great-grandfather. Original documents such as passports and birth certificates, family belongings and research at City Hall helped them trace their family tree. Lao Yu used her drawing skills to sketch two grinding machines from her hometown where grains...
Read more

LMCC - Creative Learning Grant Book of Home.8 6/15/2021

Image
  LMCC - Creative Learning Grant Book of Home  Blog 8 6/15/2021 Happy Dragon Boat Festival! Tuen Ng is celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. It commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a Chinese poet and minister known for his patriotism and contribution to classical poetry who eventually became a national hero. People make zongzi and share them with family and friends. In order to honor the day, we warmed up by paddling our imaginary dragon boat in a battle to win. Then we waved our winning flag! Chi had recently visited the High Line to see the flower show and shared her beautiful photos on WeChat. It is a great medium for not only posting the recording of the day’s class but also for asking questions and sharing homework. It was great to welcome Bobo back to our class. We hope she enjoyed the experience and will log on for future classes.  Some of our students posted the 2nd page they completed at home, and we honored their achievements by sharing photos of their...
Read more