Pirate Bones

A group of boys who are 4 have been playing a pirate game in their classroom. These guys would rather be in action than sitting at a table, but the lure of making 'pirate stuff' brought them to the studio. A classmate broke his foot earlier in the year, and so this class has been looking at x-rays and bones. It seemed like making skull and crossbones would be a perfect place to start. I have a bucket of pieces from various 'Mr. Bones' (plastic skeleton models) that have broken over the years. The boys eagerly examined the pieces, hypothesizing about what parts of the body they were.

It is always striking how the model skeleton inspires close observation and detailed drawing, even in very young children who are just beginning to learn to control their marks.

skull and crossbones

A.who is 3, has been interested in bones too. He made a paper skeleton 

the paper skeleton

earlier in the week and so his teachers asked if he could be included in this group. He joined right in with the older boys, even though he wasn't especially interested in Pirates.

The older boys used long white straws for flag poles, and A. decided he would use them as bones to make a new skeleton: