THEME: COLOR / PATTERN
SUBJECT: EARLY CHILDHOOD
ARTIST: YAYOI KUSAMA
GRADE: recommended PreK-3rd grade
 
OBJECTIVES
Students understand different colors and how color responds to light.
Students think about pattern and how that impacts the world around them.
 
KEY QUESTIONS
1. How do different colors impact how you feel?
2. What is a pattern? How do patterns make (impact how) you see?
3. Does light make a difference with color? … with pattern?
 
BOOK REFERENCES
1. Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
2. Pete the Cat: I love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin
3. My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
4. Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
5. My Blue is Happy by Jessica Young
VISUAL REFERENCES
1. Infinity Dots Mirrored Room, (1996) by Yayoi Kusama
2. Repetitive Vision, (1996) by Yayoi Kusama
 
ACTIVITY
Create your own installation inside of a small box. Visit the Mattress Factory, or show your students pictures of installation art and explain that it is room-sized. You can walk into a piece of installation art and it can be made of many different materials. Give each student a small box—this could be a cardboard box, a gift box, a shoebox, etc. It only needs to have two walls and a floor (anything else is bonus space!) Have students think about color and pattern in their installation, drawing inspiration from the book and visual references above. Use stickers, tape, stamps, pipe cleaners and other simple materials to create art on the walls and floor of the box. Ask students to imagine if their box were the size of a room. How would they fill that room? What would they do? How would they make that room life-size?
 
BONUS
Assign each student a color, pattern or feeling and have them use this as the inspiration for the design of their installation box. 

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PENNSYLVANIA CORE STANDARDS
VISUAL ARTS
(9.1.3.A)
-know and use the elements and principles of each art form to create works in the arts and humanities
 
(9.1.3.D)
-use knowledge of varied styles within each art form through a performance or exhibition of unique work
 
(9.1.3.E)
-demonstrate the ability to define objects, express emotions, illustrate an action or relate an experience through creation of works in the arts