Media - Day 5 grades 4-6 learning activities

​​Trivia question: True or false: Black bears are always black.

Mindfulness Activity:

• Sit down so you’re comfortable.
• Be still.
• Imagine your favourite colour that helps you feel calm.
• Every time you take a breath, allow the colour to grow in your mind.
• Breathe and let it get bigger 5 times.
• How much calmer or more awake are you? None? A little? Medium? A lot?

​​Supplies:

• blank paper
• scissors
• pencil
• coloured pencils

For this activity, we are going to outline a story for a short video.

Have your child cut a blank piece of paper into four pieces and draw a different character on each piece.

Divide a blank piece of paper into six sections. Use these sections to draw and/or write a short story using the characters you created.

Add more pages to make your story longer.

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​​Supplies:

• smart phone or tablet
• toys or clay
• a fabric sheet or piece of paper as the backdrop

A stop motion video tells a story by putting lots of still pictures together. For this activity, we are going to create our own. You can try using an app such as Stop Motion Studio or iMOVIE. Or you can simply take pictures of your scenes and show them together to tell the story.

Have your child create the background scene. Set up a few lamps to get good lighting. You can use a sheet or draw a backdrop on a piece of paper. Try out different backdrops that will work better for the lighting and your characters.

Next, get them to create characters. You can use toys, make a clay character, draw them on paper or use a combination of character types.

Put the characters in your background scene and take pictures of them. Move them a small distance between each picture. Try making objects disappear and/or reappear, adding props, or zooming in and out.

Be creative with the characters storyline and see where it takes you! When you are done, share your project with someone at home, or with a friend or family member online.

Watch the video for help on this activity.

​​Supplies:

• 8x10 flat canvas or thick piece of cardboard
• old small toys or items you don’t use anymore or are broken
• glue (hot glue gun for heavy items)
• paint
• paint brushes
• glitter (optional)

Have your child collect small items you no longer use. E.g. old small toys, bottles caps, pins, bottoms, screws, or game pieces.

Have your child glue items on the canvas and let the glue dry.

Get your child to start painting. You can divide the canvas in 2-3 sections and paint them with different colors. You can also select and paint a shape like a heart or star.

Let your child choose whether they see their mixed media art as a one, two or multiple colour project. Add glitter if you want, then let everything dry.

​​Ask your child:

• How does it feel to create your own media?
• Do you think it’s possible to have too much media in your life? Why or why not?
• What types of rules do you think kids should have when it comes to using media like YouTube, social media apps or surfing the internet?

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​​Mindfulness Activity Trivia Answer:

• False, they can be any colour that human hair is naturally

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