Bridge Projected On Our Wall!

An image of a bridge was projected on the wall and that area of the wall was covered in paper. The children were invited to use markers and draw on the paper. When drawing they were interested in adding new details on and under the bridge. When drawing on top of the bridge they drew items such as family members, cars, and animals. When adding details under the bridge there was an interest in drawing straight lines. In the picture there were pillars holding up bridge and the lines children added seemed to resemble these pillars. Some children added details to make the bridge more functional, like making pathways leading to the bridge. Since they were drawing collaboratively children shared their ideas and sometimes their ideas caught the interest of others. After working together the paper was covered in marks. It was interesting to see the circular shapes at the top of the picture, which corresponded to the circular architecture of the bridge. Also, under the bridge was mostly decorated with lines, which were reminiscent of the pillars. The children seem to be showing an awareness of design within a bridge.

I would like to build on the children’s ideas of bridges by taking a closer look at bridge design. With each activity I see the children thinking more about the shapes they use when drawing their representations of bridges. As a next step I would like to provide each child with a picture of a bridge and a piece of tracing paper. I would like the children to think more about what types of shapes are utilized in bridge design and how these shapes come together. Since the children are showing a growing awareness of bridge design I wonder if they will be able to re-create certain features of the bridge in their own drawing on the tracing paper.