Color Outside The Lines

Flags

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:58:35 -0400

In this session of Color Outside the Lines, students were challenged with designing a national flag symbolic of their countries’ culture and history. Using real-world examples –including a few that were designed by BoomBox staff members– students determined which colors and icons were representative of their countries’ stories.

In next week’s session, students will be studying money and designing a national currency for their countries.

Culture

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:49:00 -0400

At the previous session of Color Outside the Lines, students learned that culture is a composite of music, food, art, language, and more. After having had the opportunity to experience examples of cultural items from around the world in the previous class, students were challenged with creating a culture of their own. The class came up with a variety of defining cultural elements for their countries, with ideas ranging from the traditional to the inventive.

The class focused primarily on creating a style of dress and national cuisine for their country. Examples of the students’ inventive work can be seen below:

Geography and Culture

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:20:00 -0400

In the initial meeting of Color Outside the Lines, students worked alongside BoomBox team members to learn basic concepts of cartography – the science and practice of drawing maps. This included a discussion about how to symbolize trees, mountains, bodies of water and other geographical features. Students used these fundamentals to create original maps of their countries, which were reflective of each child’s personality and interests. As Color Outside the Lines progresses, maps will be revised and re-imagined as students continue to create the story of their country.

At the following session, students and BoomBox staff discussed what elements make up a country’s culture. Team members had the opportunity to share several personal cultural experiences with the class. Some showed pictures of themselves touring countries as far away as Egypt, while others brought in unique cultural artifacts such as French and Arabic books, traditional Korean and Japanese clothing, and a Tibetan singing bowl. Using these as examples number of items that can help contribute to a country’s culture, students were challenged to consider a culture of their own.

At the next meeting of Color Outside the Lines, children will have the opportunity to begin designing their country’s very own language, food, music and style of dress.

Color Outside the Lines: An Introduction

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:28:00 -0400

On October 5, 2011, BoomBox launched Color Outside the Lines – a six-week creative arts program partnering BoomBox employees with 13 students from Public School 11.

Color Outside the Lines was designed to inspire the imaginations of local fourth and fifth graders and show that creativity can be more than a hobby. It can be a lifelong pursuit.

Over the course of the program each student will be creating his or her own country side-by-side with team members from BoomBox. Far from being tasked with a simple coloring exercise, students will be encouraged to imagine a full, rich culture and history for their countries. This program will also challenge the children to consider the wide variety of skills needed to make their countries unique, including graphic design, storytelling and even architecture.

We will be sharing the ongoing progress of our students, so check back soon to see our latest developments.