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Play was all wound in and out of the Native culture in such an important way. On one of the dance regalia an otter skin is worn down the back as a drop. When I googled Otter Drop
my own drawing came up.
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ight_dance.htm
Here is a better picture if you will scroll down to “drop” and then click on picture.
http://library.thinkquest.org/3081/terms.htm
The text here tell that the otter was a water animal and offered them symbolical protection.
I question that because I’ve heard dancers smile and say, “That otter is still playing with me,
he gets all tangled up in my feet when I dance.”
I was told the otter is the only animal to play for his whole life and this is the reason his skin
is used in the regalia. The point being that play is a great part of the Native culture. Dances,
shinney games, hand games, jovial good fun when together, and art. We come to the moral of the story and that is how learning art at an early age can give a child the same happy outlook on life.
My grandchildren from non-Indian families were heard to say, “Don’t send that play dough home with them.”
For that I didn’t reply. “ No one sent it home, they just loved the stuff so much they hid it in their packs and took it with them.”
Here’s the recipe:
1 cup flour
1 cup salt
Mix sparse amounts of water with this until a pliable dough results.
You may add a couple tablespoons of oil if you wish.
This is another way to teach the basic shapes. Make a sphere, flatten it into a circle,
take a butter knife and cut the circle into a stop sign (Octagon) or a six sided shape
(Hexagon) Roll out a circle, cut it to the center and pull it into a cone. Make a cylinder and a cube.
The shapes you finish set aside to harden and when they are thoroughly dry you can use acrylic paint to finish them. After you have saved these basic shapes allow the kids to make whatever they wish: ashtrays, vases, snowmen, a truck for boys.
As they become knowledgeable about the basic shapes you can begin to put them together.
A clown is a sphere with a cone for a hat, a cube is a barn with a silo (cylinder) beside it,
a vase of a sphere and a cylinder for the neck. A cup shaped into a cylinder and the handle
a long rope cylinder. Look around the house for things they can see that are combined shapes.
Some children advance to the place they are putting cylinders together for horses, people and whatever.
When they begin to draw then it is easy to show them how to shade these shapes.
my own drawing came up.
http://www.electricscotland.com/hist...ight_dance.htm
Here is a better picture if you will scroll down to “drop” and then click on picture.
http://library.thinkquest.org/3081/terms.htm
The text here tell that the otter was a water animal and offered them symbolical protection.
I question that because I’ve heard dancers smile and say, “That otter is still playing with me,
he gets all tangled up in my feet when I dance.”
I was told the otter is the only animal to play for his whole life and this is the reason his skin
is used in the regalia. The point being that play is a great part of the Native culture. Dances,
shinney games, hand games, jovial good fun when together, and art. We come to the moral of the story and that is how learning art at an early age can give a child the same happy outlook on life.
My grandchildren from non-Indian families were heard to say, “Don’t send that play dough home with them.”
For that I didn’t reply. “ No one sent it home, they just loved the stuff so much they hid it in their packs and took it with them.”
Here’s the recipe:
1 cup flour
1 cup salt
Mix sparse amounts of water with this until a pliable dough results.
You may add a couple tablespoons of oil if you wish.
This is another way to teach the basic shapes. Make a sphere, flatten it into a circle,
take a butter knife and cut the circle into a stop sign (Octagon) or a six sided shape
(Hexagon) Roll out a circle, cut it to the center and pull it into a cone. Make a cylinder and a cube.
The shapes you finish set aside to harden and when they are thoroughly dry you can use acrylic paint to finish them. After you have saved these basic shapes allow the kids to make whatever they wish: ashtrays, vases, snowmen, a truck for boys.
As they become knowledgeable about the basic shapes you can begin to put them together.
A clown is a sphere with a cone for a hat, a cube is a barn with a silo (cylinder) beside it,
a vase of a sphere and a cylinder for the neck. A cup shaped into a cylinder and the handle
a long rope cylinder. Look around the house for things they can see that are combined shapes.
Some children advance to the place they are putting cylinders together for horses, people and whatever.
When they begin to draw then it is easy to show them how to shade these shapes.