I LOVE Antoinette Portis' Not A Box story and this animated version is the perfect provocation to warm up students' creativity muscles. In my last post, Where Do Artists Get Their Ideas? Part 1: Observation, I started talking about how my third graders are in a new unit exploring where artists find inspiration. My students had a million great ideas but this unit will focus on two major ones: observation and imagination.
Observation lends itself to close looking, realism, and developing drawing techniques. It is good for little scientists and provides a wealth of subject material. It can also be frustrating for students whose drawing skills are developing or who still have beautifully active what-if brains. Third graders are thrilled by fantasy and I want to encourage creative thinking in their artworks. So we watch the "Not A Box" video (above) and draw our own not-a-box in our sketchbooks. There is an equally adorable book, and probably a YouTube video, called Not A Stick but it features a pig so we tend to avoid that here in the Middle East.
The not-a-box concept is a great first step into discussing imagination and creativity as a "place" where artists get their ideas. Although the audience can only see a box the rabbit sees so much more. Not just one thing but the sky is merely the beginning. This models for students how to make that leap between the visible (observation) and invisible (imagination). It also sets us up for a more sophisticated conversation about artists who use their imagination to inspire their artworks, like Salvador Dali and his Surrealist friends. Spoiler alert: part 3!
Do you have any other books or videos that celebrate imagination?
Artfully,
Catherine
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