Pat Crowley Rockwell, well-loved teacher and perennial star of the Peaks Island Library’s Story and Craft program, featured Here Come the Humpbacks! last week, to my utter delight.
Hearing her lilting delivery of astonishing facts, like that a new-born humpback calf would be longer than the blue carpet upon which the audience was perched, made me feel like I was on open sea. She handed out coffee filter and washable markers, for kids to “make an ocean.”
Next, they went outside armed with a spray bottle, to splash the oceans, not each other!
They heard more of the book, and then retrieved their oceans, to cut into shapes. Shapes were eagerly glued to another piece of paper, and then I handed out more paper choices and some pastels. Artists cut out whale shapes and placed them in their oceans!
This artist got a great likeness of the long flippers that humpbacks have.
What fun to create humpbacks on paper with a crowd of crafters! Thanks to Ms. Crowley-Rockwell for her ingenious connections to the book with color, water, and context.
I’ll be sharing my methods and making connections tomorrow evening at the Ocean Park Library. Come join me!
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