A few years ago while visiting a fellow art teacher friend, she shared the Fuzzy Creature Game with me. I have been using it with my students ever since. I've had some people ask me how to play and figured it was time to write it all down someplace to share with others. When introducing the Fuzzy Creature game to my students, this is what I usually say: "Okay everyone, we are going to play the Fuzzy Creature game today. Has anyone ever played?" Usually, the response is no in my Art Intro classes. "Alright, this game is played with a partner. One person is the Fuzzy Creature and the other is the murderer." Pause for gasps and giggles. It gets them every time. I think this is my favorite part of sharing this game with new students. "Here is how you will play. The fuzzy creature will draw himself on the paper using a colored marker. I want to emphasize that this is a thinking game, not a drawing game. Don't spend five minutes drawing the perfect creature. After the fuzzy creature has been drawn on the paper, the murderer is going to attempt to kill it. For example, the murderer may draw a ten ton weight hanging over the head of the creature. Does the game end here? Oh no, we are just getting started. Now, the fuzzy creature needs to escape the attack and thus the game is rolling. This process of attacking and escaping will go on as long as you think creatively. You may not use the same attack or defense more than once. Both partners should use a different colored marker. Everyone will have a turn being both the creature and the murderer. Are you ready to play?" I then have students count off, one, two, one, two. All the "ones" will be the fuzzy creature. They come to take a piece of large paper then find their murderer. We play for about seven-ten minutes then I ask all of the murderers to stand. They now become a fuzzy creature, get a new piece of paper, and then find a new partner. We play for as long as we have time for, usually two or three rounds. I love the way students really get into it that it causes students to change to a different partner and thus break the ice with people they may be less familiar with. It also helps me get a feel for which students are going to struggle with idea generation. When students say that they've lost, I push them to think more creatively. My returning art students are always psyched to play the fuzzy creature game again at the beginning of the new school year. It is a lot of fun.
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A little over a week into my second year with a TAB classroom and the students are chomping at the bit to start creating. We have spent time setting up clear expectations which include collaborating with other artists. We had our first real TASK party, played the fuzzy creature game, and spent time exploring idea generation. Idea generation is something I saw as a weakness for students last year, so I knew I needed to make a change and spend more time developing these skills. One of the activities that students completed was to fill up an "idea sandbox" with ideas. It was pretty great because the next day, I was able to direct students to "Go play in the sandbox,' when they told me they didn't know what to do for the sketchbook cover. I think this will be a valuable resource for students as we move through the year.
I am also excited to be teaching a new class this year, Art Studio. Thanks to TAB, I was able to consolidate my Art II, Art III/IV, and AP students all into a year-long class. I am now able to offer three sections of advanced art so that it is easier for students to fit it into their schedules. This also enables students who have taken Ceramics to continue working in clay since I am the only teacher who does studio art at my school. In this new course, I look forward to building an authentic studio environment where students can share and grow together. I was beyond thrilled when I saw this happening yesterday already when a student shared her experience with different media with a classmate to help her decide what she wanted to do. Students teaching each other is an amazing thing. There are still a lot of unknowns and I have a lot of work to do. It can be overwhelming to decide what's best for the students, what order lessons should take place, how much and when to give them freedom, but I am confident that I am on the right path. I am enjoying the journey. |
AuthorMrs. Taborda is the studio art teacher at Oxford High School in Oxford, MA. This blog will document her journey as an educator and share the happenings of the OHS art room. Archives
November 2018
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