Tāne Mahuta Inspired Beaded Trees
I had such a blast teaching this lesson to the 5 year olds at the very beginning of the school year. For many of the students it was their first time coming to an art day with me. For some students it was their very first day at school as well as their first ever art day!
The art focus in all my lessons for the beginning of the year has been creating art in response to the Māori creation story. In this lesson the children learnt about the creation story of Ranginui (Sky Father), Papatūānuku (Earth Mother) and their children. We read stories and watched videos to get ourselves familiar with the story.
In the beginning Ranginui and Papatūānuku were coiled together in a loving embrace, their children trapped between them in the darkness. The children found it difficult to do their jobs because they were squashed between their parents and there was no light. So the children decided to separate their parents and let light into the world.
Many of Ranginui and Papatūānuku’s children attempted to separate their parents but with no luck. Tāne Mahuta, God of the Forest, used his mighty legs and arms to slowly push his parents apart and let light into the world.
It is the moment of the light entering the world that the children captured with their beaded trees. The beads and pipecleaners represent the light and colour entering the world around Tāne Mahuta. We talked about different shapes and colours Tāne would have seen as the light came into the world around him.
The students absolutely loved this threading activity! The combined skills of threaded beads onto pipe cleaners and then manipulating the pipe cleaner around the branches was fantastic for fine-motor skill development. The students also decided to press beads into the clay base and add imprints with the clay tools.
My favourite part of this lesson was how well the students collaborated to make the trees. Each tree has the work of at least two or three students displayed on it. I loved hearing the kind, cooperative language the students used as they worked on the artworks.
The artworks were on display in the school foyer for a while and have now found a permanent home in the school library. The look beautiful and whimsical all lined up next to each on the shelf. The nature artworks behind them make for a gorgeous backdrop. The nature artworks were made by group of students in a workshop with a talented parent from our school community.
After the students finished their beaded trees they painted tall, patterned trees using crayon and tempera palette paints. I asked the students to think about Tāne Mahuta and the forest surrounding him as they drew long, straight lines from the bottom of their page to the top.
It can sometimes be a challenge for younger students to get strong colours when using the palette paints as kids have a tendency to use a lot of water. I demonstrated how to dip the brush into the water and wipe some off on the side of the container to not overfill the brush. Then I showed them how to swirl the paintbrush around on the palettes at least three times to get the the paintbrush loaded with colour.
This day of art has been one of my favourite to date, mostly because of the enthusiasm and inclusiveness of the students as they worked collaboratively on the trees. I can’t wait to teach it again later this year when the new 5 year olds arrive at school.