Lower School Art Classes Practice Creative Thinking With TASK Parties
Students in grades 3–5 closed out the semester in art classes with TASK parties, an activity that encourages imagination, creativity and stepping outside of your comfort zone.
Invented by artist Oliver Herring, TASK Parties are an opportunity to create art based on a random task or prompt drawn from a box. Following a discussion about safety and supplies– as well as stepping out of your comfort zone– students rose to the challenge with some amazing results. They were given about 25-30 minutes to work on their tasks, with five minutes at the end of class to clean up and recap.
There is no wrong way to approach a task, and students were encouraged to think outside the box. With the exception of paint, which takes too long to dry, all art supplies were fair game.
Some examples of tasks are:
• Make a jeweled ring.
• Make a dance accessory and invent a dance for it.
• Create a mask. Wear it and pretend to be someone/thing else.
• Make a crown and crown someone.
• Hide something and make a treasure map for it. Give the map to someone to follow.
• Make a monster and get friends for it.
