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What do you class as construction materials?


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Posted

Just a quick question (for once!)

What do you class as construction materials - just things that they use to make 3D models - junk/kits/natural bits etc or also collage materials used on a flat picture?

Thanks

Green Hippo x

Posted

i agree with finleysmaid. lego/junk modelling etc

Posted

Not collage in my opinion but everything else!

 

Stickler ricks, plastic bricks wooden bricks, duplo etc!

Posted

That's what I thought! Definitely blocks as well.

So...where does collage fit in?...

Apart from 'combining media' and 'feel of textures' there seems to be no mention of it?

I don't try to link all my obs with a direct statement but it's hard to assess progress with this within EAD.

Green Hippo x

Posted

Well I'm not so sure. Collage could be construction. It depends on how it's done I think. If they are taking time to construct an elaborate picture or pattern then I think yes. But if they are just plonking bits onto paper then no. If they are cutting specific shapes out for particular purposes in their collage it could be deemed construction. Hmm.

Posted

Well I'm not so sure. Collage could be construction. It depends on how it's done I think. If they are taking time to construct an elaborate picture or pattern then I think yes. But if they are just plonking bits onto paper then no. If they are cutting specific shapes out for particular purposes in their collage it could be deemed construction. Hmm.

Is this not creativity, design rather than construction?

Manipulation of tools ie scissors is fine motor/ physical development?

Posted

I know what you mean, Susan. It can be a close call. I can't say I have ever used it for collage, I was thinking 'out loud' really and wondering why I hadn't considered it for collage, when there can be an element of 'constructing' something involved

Posted

Collage for me is a form of mixed media work, which relies on the use of imagination, awareness of the media being used, bringing awareness of texture, shape and form. I would not see collage as construction, i.e. specifically 3 dimensional representation although it is not always flat work. However you do have to construct a collage, in order to get the sense of texture/shape/form that is required from an artistic perspective.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collage

Posted

A lovely debate!

Will take this to my team. I have always considered construction as the 3D type activity - be that natural items, cardboard boxes, wooden blocks, construction sets etc.

This issue came up from an observation of a little boy who had drawn a picture of a butterfly, then taken it to the creative area and stuck feathers and little pieces of paper on top of his drawing.

My college had linked it to the statement 'uses various construction materials' and I wouldn't have ever linked this type of activity to this statement before so was interested to hear what others thought.

Thanks, Green Hippo x

Posted

Maybe look at collage in your COEL rather than trying to fit it in. D M's

Posted

Or, playing devil's advocate here, it depends on how you define the parameters of collage. If a group of children use big branches and leaves and stones in the woods to make a huge picture, is that collage or construction? Is construction simply the act of placing one object on top of another, on top of another?

Posted

Interesting idea Cait. We do of course also 'construct' a sentence or a theory.

I think construction is building and designing, and like most things cannot always be narrowly put into one area of learning. There is great deal of creativity in constructions, especially children's. I would put all the usual stuff in a construction area but challenge children by adding all sorts of natural materials and items more commonly seen in a creative area.

  • Like 2
Posted

Anything you make is a construction - it exists because you made it. You chose where to put things and how they should be arranged for whatever purpose you decide.

Collage is an artistic approach to make a construction that uses various mixed materials to create an outcome, ephemeral or fixed.

If a child is selecting different materials, either for a 3dimensional outcome or a collaged (from french coller - to stick) mixed media outcome then that is what they are doing...it's the artistic intention not the actual outcome that matters here I'd say.

Cx

  • Like 3
Posted

ok so the definition of construction came up as.....

 

con·struc·tion (kschwa.gifn-strubreve.gifkprime.gifshschwa.gifn)

n.
1.
a. The act or process of constructing.
b. The art, trade, or work of building: an engineer trained in highway construction; worked in construction for seven years.
2.
a. A structure, such as a building, framework, or model.
b. Something fashioned or devised systematically: a nation that was glorious in its historical construction.
c. An artistic composition using various materials; an assemblage or a collage.
3. The way in which something is built or put together: a shelter of simple construction.
4. The interpretation or explanation given to an expression or a statement: I was inclined to put a favorable construction on his reply.
5. Grammar
a. The arrangement of words to form a meaningful phrase, clause, or sentence.
b. A group of words so arranged.

so it seems that collage is indeed construction...!

  • Like 2
Posted

oh i reckon i could do one of those!

one of our parents is working on the picture that was vandalised last year...i should have asked her what construction was!!

Green hippo...maybe not such a quick question after all :D

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