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Saturday 21 April 2012

I spy with my little eye ...Art!

'Picasso likes triangles' - said my three year old daughter to me this morning. And my heart sang!


And it is all thanks to those books.




Odessa is a logical thinker with a surreal sense of humour - she is not big fan of mixing paints and getting her hands dirty. The favourite thing she likes to draw is number '9' - because its 'a  circle with a leg'. She also likes "ssssss" (for snake) and "mmmm" (for mama). I decided to follow her recent number and letters obsession as well as introduce art to her from different perspective (at least that was the theory). 'I spy (...) in art' is perfect for it.

It's a series of books with famous paintings (representing different styles and periods) and interactive tasks like finding a word starting with a letter (for example, 'A' in Rene Magritte's 'Son of Man', or B for ball in in Henri Rousseau's 'Football players').  





 In the 'numbers' edition you need find particular amounts of an  object (like one fly, for example).





Reading them with your children is also great opportunity to introduce some of the biggest names in art and different styles. It might sound a bit heavy for a three year old, but it seems their brain at that stage can really process a lot of information Also, what I have learnt being a mum is that it's more important how you do things not what you do.
So use simple words like Picasso likes shapes or Chagall likes countryside and weddings - point out things they are familiar with and gradually introduce new elements. 

It has been an amazing experience looking at all those masterpieces through a little  child's eyes - it really allows  you to analyse them. And now I'm not sure who has learnt more - me or Odessa.







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