Art Class

Duncan's big thing at the minute, is Legoland, especially the Sky Rider, Duplo train and Orient Expedition rides. A friend sent him a stack of the visitor maps from England, and he's spent ages examining them. We have also had several of his wooden trains adapted to resemble the Legoland rides, we've drawn pictures and made books, googled and looked on YouTube.

Last week I mentioned a new art class I was taking the boys to. They've been twice now. During the first week they painted T-shirts. Duncan wanted a Duplo train on his. I drew the outline and he filled it in. Thomas made a pattern on his shirt and both boys opted for large shirts they could wear to bed. They looked really good and Duncan has worn his a few times. The second class took place last Wednesday. Duncan had decided that this time he would paint a Sky Rider train on a T-shirt. But this time, the planned activity was to cover a page with oil pastels, paint over them and then scrape off the paint to reveal the colours under. Duncan kept asking about the T-shirts and was upset that there weren't any. I tried to explain what we were doing, and did a quick demonstration. He still wasn't interested. In the end, he dabbed a few spots of paint onto a couple of wooden trains he'd taken with him. I persuaded him to colour and paint and scrape a small page. I don't know if I should bother taking them there any more. Is it beneficial to try to engage him in a task he didn't choose? Should I just let him do the drawings and paintings he want to do at home? The class might give him a chance to try new media, and perhaps learn to take external instruction. I would like to see him join other classes and groups eventually, like his siblings.

I think we'll keep going for now. The teacher tends to take a long time, talking at the start about what they're going to do. Duncan needs to get stuck in as fast as possible to engage his interest. I will help him as much as I can, making it more fun and understandable for him.