For Ariel, she decided to bring along her favorite doll, which she fondly calls Baby Mell.
In the first lesson, the kids were taught to draw their toy. It was an opportunity for them to revise their knowledge of basic shapes as they made use of these to construct their drawings.
I have to say it is not easy to draw facial outlines and features, so I was a little skeptical if Ariel could manage it at all. Obviously, she needed the guidance of the teacher who would instruct her step by step and demonstrate to her on how to go about drawing.
While straight lines were easy for her, wavy and curved ones were a tad more challenging. I was really proud of her for trying her best and achieving this at the end of just one lesson.
For the next three weeks, the students were to work on a a painting of their favorite toy instead. Teacher Syafiq told the kids that they could keep the previous toy or bring along a new one instead. This time, Ariel decided that she wanted to bring her Hello Kitty phone instead and I was just glad she chose a lightweight, small toy which could fit easily into my bag.
To begin, she used an oil pastel to draw an outline of the phone. At times, the teacher would just tell her what shape to draw and roughly how big he needs them to be. If she has much difficulty, he would then help her out by drawing dots at the corners for her to join. It was easy to tell that Ariel has progressed much compared to the first few lessons and that was something to be thankful for.
Next, it was time to start painting! This never fails to delight the kids and make them all excited.
Despite that she is only three years old, I like how the teachers give the kids the freedom and independence in the little tasks. Not only did they get to choose their own colours for the entire painting, they were also taught to mix colours, wash their paintbrushes, discard the used paper after drying their brushes and so on. These help to cultivate a sense of responsibility in them and inculcate good habits too.
Next, it was time to move onto the details. I was secretly pleased that she chose to bring this phone and chose to paint it when it was opened rather than clammed. Why? This was because she got to paint the numbers 0-9 on the phone too and revised these digits in the process.
In the last lesson, it was time to paint the background and complete the final details. Ariel wanted a turquoise background which contrasted her pink phone quite well.
Once, she accidentally painted her eyebrow and right cheek with the turquoise paint. Yeah, don't ask me how she did it. It was a hilarious sight and before I could react, Teacher Syafiq asked her to sit down so that he could help her to wipe it off. It once again reminded me of how patient the teachers are at heART Studio and the truth is they really love and care about these kids, which makes all the difference in their teaching.
There, her final artwork is shown below! I thought it was done amazingly well! The teacher even asked every kid to give a price for their toy as if it was on sale in a toy shop. See the price tag on Ariel's phone? Yeah, $21 for her favorite toy, even though I bet she won't be willing to let go even if you offer her much more. As for me, this painting will be another one of our favourites and I hope to be able to keep it as a memory for a long time to come! Till our next art project at heART Studio!
Disclosure: This is Part III of a series of reviews of heART Studio. Ariel attended complimentary lessons for the purpose of this review. All opinions are our own.
