Stone experiments

Finding connections

Stone experiment #5: Finding connections is a workshop which inspires the students to creatively seek for connections and think associatively. Simoultaneusly, it also provides the opportunity to practice collaborative skills between the students.

The experiment trains the children’s ability to find connections between expressions, people and nature. It trains both the creative skills and the skill of thinking in an abstract manner.

                    

Quick facts about the experiment:

Target group

Children 10-16 years old, max 16 persons
Facilitator

Art teacher, Group leader
Time scale

2 x 45 minutes
Location

Classroom or workshop
Goal

To explore which connections can be found between different things and topics
Materials

15×15 cm white paper, stones (max 4-5 cm diameter), acrylic markers, glue gun

                    

How to:

  1. Pick a stone you like. Look at it, touch it, smell it. What does it remind you of? (Method: chatting, thinking in silence then discussing)
  1. Storytelling about the stone(s) in the river: Where do these stones come from? What are the similarities and differences between them? (Method: storytelling, creating a fairy tale about stones)
  1. Place your stone on your paper, anywhere you would like! Move it around. Find the best place and composition. Now, what comes into your mind if I say “relation” or “connection”? Take an acrylic marker and decorate your stone and paper with simple line drawing, which reminds you of connections to people, nature etc. You can draw a letter, a person, a symbol, a sign etc. (Method: Q & A, drawing, creating, discussing)
  1. Find your connection: When you have finished decorating, find a person in the class whose creation can be connected to yours. What will you find? Try to find as many connections as possible. Make big pictures using the different stone drawings. Try to make one big picture with all the drawings (Method: discussing, finding into pairs, connecting)
Stone experiments