Every time September rolls around, I remember one of my most successful programs—a celebration of International Dot Day, held annually on September 15(ish).
When brainstorming ideas for this blog, I initially passed International Dot Day up—I did this program YEARS ago. How passé. However, I wondered if the tool kit I discovered still existed. So, I searched…
Lo and behold—this year’s celebration is NOT passé! It’s the 20th anniversary (wow—time flies!) of Peter H. Reynolds’ superb picture book The Dot. If you are not familiar with the story, a young student feels overwhelmed by the idea of creating art. Her teacher suggests she signs the big dot she drew. Dots then become her medium—all sizes and colors, “not dots” (negative space), multiple dots…The artist then passes this confidence on to one of her fans.
Weston Woods created an animated version of the picture book, which is great to share during a program if you have access to it. During my program, I also added Hervé Tullet’s Press Here as a second book. I gathered multiple copies so that each child had one to interact with while I read the story aloud. (Check out more interactive picture books in my previous blog on the topic).
The children were then free to explore various “dot stations”—activities that “rounded” out the program (I couldn’t help myself!). I got most of these ideas from the International Dot Day website. You can still get a free educator’s guide by signing up. My stations included dot markers, thumbprint art, dot painting with cotton-tipped applicators, Kandinsky-style circles, and not-a-dot paintings (coloring in the area around a blank, dot-shaped space). Kids (pre-K to grade 2) had a wonderful time.
Have you ever celebrated International Dot Day? Tell us about it below!
This post addresses the core competencies of I. Commitment to Client Group and II. Programming Skills.
kati
How about integrating Yayoi Kusama’s dot work here? Kids really love her.
Maria Trivisonno
That’s a wonderful idea! Perfect!