Arts Explorer #7: Grocery Shopping with a Twist

Groceries with a TWIST 

What I see when I go grocery shopping is the many possible creations I can make with the food I purchase. I love cooking so am often running to the grocery store a couple of times a week. This blog will focus on FRUIT.

Picture from: 

http://sci-eng.net/2009_02_01_archive.html

Here is a list of all of the fruits I could think of that fit into this category:

• Bananas
• Grapes
• Oranges
• Apples
• Strawberries
• Watermelon
• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Pears
• Pineapple
• Kiwi
• Pomegranate
• Lemons
• Limes
• Grapefruit
• Mango
• Cantaloupe
• Honey Due
• Blackberries
• Cherries

Within this list there are many colours, shapes, and sizes present. 

SHAPES: These fruits come in a variety of shapes
- Circular
- Round
- Cone-shaped
- Semi-circular
- Spherical
- Pointed
- Pear-shaped

COLOURS: The colours that these fruits come in are beautiful and are available in various shades of the colours listed 

- Green
- Red
- Yellow
- Purple
- Orange
- Pink
- Blue
- Green
- Black 

SIZES: Some of these fruits come in different sizes, but I have listed them according to how I see them. 

small                                               Medium                                            LARGE
- Grapes                                         - Bananas                                         - Watermelon
- Strawberries                                 - Apples                                           - Pineapple
- Raspberries                                  - Oranges                                         - Cantaloupe
- Blueberries                                   - Pears                                             - Honey Due
- Limes                                           - Kiwi
- Blackberries                                 - Pomegranate
- Cherries                                       - Watermelon

                                                      - Lemons

                                                      - Grapefruit

                                                      - Mango 

I also made a visual representation for those that are visual people. It's a bit hard to see and that's why I wrote it out above. But, here it is....

A Visual Representation

And here are three items off my list that I chose to sketch:

Grapes

An Orange

Bananas

Art Word of the Week: Texture

Texture: According to Schirrmacher and Fox (2009), texture refers to how the surface of the object feels when you touch it. 

When thinking about fruit, many textures come to mind. Smooth, bumpy, rough just to name a few. What I think is most interesting though is that fruit is an object where the inside and outside can have quite different textures. For instance, a banana is smooth and slightly hard on the outside, but the inside is quite soft. 

Early Childhood Education Extension: Exploring texture can be done with many objects in the classroom. An activity that can easily be completed is getting children to eat with their hands at lunch. This will allow them to feel the textures of their food before they eat it. This wouldn't be an everyday activity, but would be a fun change to the lunch routine. Another activity that can be done is sketching. This can be done by bringing the materials needed (sketch pad/paper, pencils) outside on the playground and allowing children the opportunity to sketch what they see in nature. Another opportunity for sketching is on field trips. Children can take a 'sketch break' and sketch what they are experiencing or afterward reflect on what they saw. Since sketching doesn't require many materials it makes it a great activity for field trips when teachers already have enough to think about. 

References 

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.