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Watch this Ted Talk by Ethan Hawke - Give yourself permission to be creative | Ethan Hawke to get an understanding of the importance of human creativity through the arts. Take a moment to reflect on how as an educator we can facilitate, engage, set up and create spaces and experiences for children to nurture and build children’s creative arts knowledge and skills and well-being.

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Give yourself permission to be creative | Ethan Hawke | TED

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This is a guide for implementing Auslan in early childhood. It explains what Auslan is and the importance of having an Auslan program in the early years.

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A beautiful resource to introduce how we can use music explore and express our emotions

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A great website to get some insight to the benefits of Auslan instruction for children in early childhood.

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Auslan is short for Australian sign language. It's a visual form of communication that uses hand, arm and body movements to convey meaning.

While it was originally created for the hearing impaired, its incorporation in an early learning environment creates many exciting opportunities for engagement, inclusion and a richer shared culture.

Christine Tsang, Director of Inaburra Preschool in NSW, shares how it has challenged and rewarded both children and educators at her centre.

"I can talk in three ways; how many can you do?"

This question was asked of me by a chatty 3-year-old girl as we drew in the sand with sticks. I admit I was a little unsure what direction the conversation was going in as we had been talking about our Mums up to this point.

I was saved from showing my ignorance as she continued to tell me that she speaks; "....what we are saying now, Spanish talking like my Mummy and the quiet talking".

Now I knew where the conversation was going, and how my heart leapt for joy at the meaning behind her words!

Many of the children and some staff in our preschool speak a language other than English. While we always try to include these spoken languages in the program it is the use of Auslan (and some keyword signing) that this girl was referring to when she identified "quiet talking".

In some services across Australia, you may see Educators using keyword signing with children. It is an absolutely vital way to communicate with all children, not only those children who are continuing to develop their spoken language skills. It is also invaluable for those children who really respond well to visual information in conjunction with spoken language.

Reflecting on visual language use

One of our Educators, after attending a 10 week Auslan evening course, challenged us to reflect on our use of visual language and consider how we could further embed our skills and knowledge into every aspect of the program moving to more complex vocabulary for ourselves and the children.

It was at this time that we also asked Dr Scott Avery, a proud Worimi man, to visit the preschool. Scott is an Auslan speaker and researcher from Western Sydney University. He shared his research and writing of Indigenous stories around disability, NDIS access and the Federal Government's 'Closing the Gap' Initiative.

We now had a direction; we wanted to not only show respect for spoken languages but also non-spoken and visual languages, which are such an important part of the culture of many Australians.

Language emphasis opens up an exciting new role

In 2020 we made a huge step forward with the instigation of a shared leadership program; we have created the 'Language Liaison' role.

The goal of this role is to:

oversee embedding of Auslan and signing into all areas of the preschool,

encourage Educators in their use of the language regularly throughout the day,

research-related readings and lead the team in critical reflection on these, and;

continue to create visual prompts in signs, keychains and other ways to support language use for children, parents and staff.

What would you see or hear if you visited us?

If you joined in a morning gathering you would see everyone signing good morning to each other (sometimes spoken in Mandarin or other languages too).

You would see and hear singing and signing for the 'Acknowledgement of Country".

If you visited the preschool at a time when we are speaking Auslan you would see children involved in play with few spoken sounds. You would see a child ask another child if they can play by pointing to themselves followed by the sign for play or another child asking to go outside by using the appropriate sign.

You would see deep concentrated involvement in play as well as shared thinking and co-operation among small groups of children all while using hand signs, facial expressions and body language.

A year of continual learning leads to endless rewards

This year has seen us extend our vocabulary with relevant words such as; sick, soap and Covid19 - yes, there is a sign for Covid19.

It has also been a year to learn egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly and metamorphosis as we celebrated the life and birth of beautiful Monarch butterflies at preschool.

So I hope you can see why I was excited to have this little girl share her thinking with me and the way in which she proudly identified the quiet talking as an integral part of herself and her abilities.

It is not easy; when spoken language is your first language, when we are tempted to use spoken words because it will get the job done faster or you just can't recall that sign to say what you want - but we guarantee that once you begin it will get easier.

When we are driven by the desire to create opportunities for all children, family members, the staff and the community to communicate effectively in whatever language is comfortable for them, spoken or non-spoken, principles around inclusion and culture are reflected.

The EYLF says; "When early childhood educators respect the diversity of families and communities, and the aspirations they hold for children, they are able to foster children's motivation to learn and reinforce their sense of themselves as competent learners. They make curriculum decisions that uphold all children's rights to have their cultures, identities, abilities and strengths acknowledged and valued, and respond to the complexity of children's and families' lives" (EYLF Principle 4; Respect for Diversity, page 14).

2020 has been unprecedented and challenging but how wonderful to see a child secure and confident in their identity with skills that will support them in showing respect for others in our world - no wonder I felt joy!

Resources

Have you seen our new live webinar training calendar?

16 sessions to choose from including new sessions specifically related to the current pandemic environment, and many of our most popular training topics redesigned for webinar format.

Topics are delivered in a variety of 2- 3 hour sessions or 2 part series. Every course provides a practical, hands-on approach to professional development.

CELA has been supporting the professional needs of the early and middle childhood sector for over 40 years. We trained over 4,500 sector professionals in 2019.

About CELA

Community Early Learning Australia is a not for profit organisation with a focus on amplifying the value of early learning for every child across Australia - representing our members and uniting our sector as a force for quality education and care.

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"How many ways can you talk?" AUSLAN creates opportunities for inclusion and joy

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Auslan is short for Australian sign language. It's a visual form of communication that uses hand, arm and body movements to convey meaning. While it was originally created for the hearing impaired, its incorporation in an early learning environment creates many exciting opportunities for engagement, inclusion and a richer shared culture.

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Learn with Sally and Possum as they explore and discover using Auslan. This is a great resource to incorporate ICT to further develop children's understanding of diversity and the world in which they live. TO give them opportunities to experience many ways of communication.

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Sally & Possum: Possum Draws A Picture Of Sally

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Hmm. Possum loves to draw, but is he really looking carefully at what he is drawing? Wait till you see how much better he gets when he learns to look for details.

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Happy - Pharrell Williams (OFFICIAL INSTRUMENTAL)

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These songs are great for Educators and teachers as they evoke emotions and with no lyrics children have to tap into their senses and inner emotions to express themselves through music and movement

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* ladesj * - beauté, cosmétiques et mode *

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That music was in a french TV spot (directed by Jean-Paul Goude) for Chanel's perfume "Egoiste"... "Dance of the Knights", by Sergueï Prokofiev....

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https://youtu.be/pUZeSYsU0Uk

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"Cold" - Jorge Méndez (Sad Piano & Violin Instrumental)

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Sand Art Performance | Ilana Yahav | TEDxUCDavis

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This is a great music program resource. Lesson plans available and they incorporate Auslan to the music to teach children key word signs which allows children a different form to communicate with their world and express themselves

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Preschool | The Musical Garden | Geelong

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Preschool Music Classes. Learn, Play, Grow with The Musical Garden.

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This song focuses on emotions and how we can express them physically. Used in conjunction with Auslan - once children are more experienced with the Auslan alphabet you can spell the word using Auslan fingerspelling!

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What is this resource?
These are A4 sized posters of Auslan signs of emotions. This pack contains 10 emotions and is available through Twinkl.

How and when can I use these Auslan Emotions posters?

You can use these during group times to teach students about Auslan and how to sign our emotions. You can also place these as provocations with your experience or in the room. You show the children the emotion and follow the direction to teach the Auslan sign.

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What is this resource?
This book explores children and their emotions. It is illustrated by both an illustrator and an Auslan illustrator and corresponds with the story for all to join in using Auslan.

When to use this book?
Use this book during the group time. Use the dialogic reading approach to ask open ended questions about emotions - When is a time you felt happy? What did you feel inside? How did you show you were happy?
You would have this book in the library shelf for children to access after the group time. You can also use it as a provocation for future learning experiences that stem from this learning experience

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A great resource for you as an Educator or Teacher to learn about Auslan and to learn to sign to integrate it into your communication techniques to nurture and foster children's wellbeing and broaden their understanding of the world in which they live.

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Aussie Deaf Kids provides information for parents raising a deaf child

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Transient/Ephermeral art is moveable art with no permanence - no end product! A child can change, add, remove pieces as they wish. This form of creative arts allows children to develop and communicate their ideas, experiment with different shapes and forms and explore their creative side with no rules, no fear of getting it wrong as this art form is free flowing and different for each individual.

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Nature is everywhere which means so too can art. Whether you are out in the backyard with the kids, the park, the beach, even just the sidewalk waiting for a bus there is nature around us. And with nature, both children and adults alike can express their creativity.

A form of art inspired by nature is Ephemeral art. Artistic creations are made from items found in nature including leaves, sticks, bark, pebbles, seedpod, nuts, berries, petals, sand or shells. Options are endless, anything in nature can be used. The artwork is created on the ground, or on the sand at the beach, but can also be 3D in nature through sculpture. No glue, paper, paint, clay or extra tools are needed. It is simply made on the spot wherever you are in nature with whatever natural resources lie before you in the environment.

Do you have toddlers pulling at you at the clothesline, bored and wanting to play? Well let's introduce them to nature art. At the base of my clothesline is a path closely surrounded by a pebble garden, with many fallen leaves, broken sticks and on a lucky day a feather or a flower. At first you will need to model and create with your child, but soon enough they create independently and source their own materials from around them. Often its abstract patterns and spirals and lines, but can also be faces and animals or people, it's up to you.
Sensory explosion...
Young children explore their world with all of their senses, through hands on experiences they see their evolving creations, the colours, the patterns, they feel the textures of the materials; the soft petals, the rough bark, smooth stones, and smell the fragrant leaves and flowers. Sensory play builds nerve connections in the brain's pathways, which lead to the child's ability to complete more complex learning tasks. Through nature, they learn to sort, match, classify, and order, all important parts of developing early math skills. Sensory play supports children to use and coordinate small muscles. These fine motor skills are important for drawing and writing, threading and cutting as well as tying shoe laces. Using senses to explore their world helps foster their language as they begin to discover and describe the " fluffy feather", the " crunchy leaves" and the " hard rock " as they build their vocabulary.

Active exploration of natural materials enhances children's appreciation of the natural beauty in our world and deepen their respect for the environment. It fosters concepts of sustainability, waste and challenges consumerism. It teaches children that art is not just able to be made on purchased paper and products but art can be created anytime with anything. It can be done anywhere where there is nature, each environment lending itself to new discoveries, whether it is the sand, pebbles, pumice stone and shells by the beach or the leaves, petals and sticks in your backyard.
Readily accessible free play...
On a rainy day, bring the nature inside, whether it's a few pebbles, petals from flowers, leaves or sticks. For those worried about the potential mess, define a space with a placemat, a biscuit tray, a cloth or piece of fabric all work wonders on a table. If you have a little more space on the floor, lay out a table cloth or picnic blanket or define a space with masking tape, the tape comes off carpet, wood or vinyl floors without a hassle. After all, parents need piece of mind that the nature won't be spread across the entire house after some exploration. Explain the boundaries to children and a basket or bucket or bowl to fill when they tire of creating.
We can all be "artists"...
Ephemeral art is a great way for families to connect together on an equal standing, there are no barriers with age or artistic ability, there are no expectations of colouring within lines or doubting our abilities to draw or paint. We just simply create and do what comes naturally. As adults immerse in this type of art we see parts of their personality emerging and being expressed. Whether its straight ordered lines of leaves in size or colour, or mandala's radiating with bursts of colour and vibrant energy or sometimes artworks create a sense of calm from the natural colours and soft shapes used.

It builds confidence in our own abilities to be artistic, as we can construct, deconstruct and create again with no evidence of re-making, no eraser markings or liquid paper or scribbles to mark our mistakes, because with nature art there are no mistakes, it is a journey of creating and often recreating. It fosters a positive self-esteem because each piece is unique and one of a kind and free from competition. The art is temporary, it is washed away by the waves on the beach, the wind along the ground, the rain or simply just returned to the garden.

And lets pass the gift of nature on...

Why not get your children to collect nature items from your backyard or in the community. Upcycle a basket or gift box to hold all the precious treasures and hey presto, a gift that costs nothing but we pass on the love of nature and all that it can offer. Remember to be sustainable, just "borrow" a small amount from nature and return items when no longer used. Teach children that rather than placing dried withered leaves in a rubbish bin we can return to the garden as mulch, showing the interdependence on all things in nature.

Ephemeral art is inspired by internationally renowned artists such as Richard Schilling who has developed a website for families to support children doing Ephemeral art - check out this link. Or type in Andy Goldsworthy to Google images, to see some breathtaking pictures.
Ephemeral art is creative and fun and can be done by anyone, try it today.

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Art in nature, it's everywhere | Nature Play QLD

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Nature is everywhere which means so too can art. Whether you are out in the backyard with the kids, the park, the beach, even just the sidewalk waiting for a bus there is nature around us. And with nature, both children and adults alike can express their creativity.

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If you are new to implementing moveable art with no end product this is a great quick read on the importance of transient art and how to set up the space so its inviting and engaging (So get rid of the glue and sticky tape and get creating and recreating!)

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Leave the paint and the glue in the cupboard, share out some loose parts and let children be creative on their own terms...

A few years ago I met a little boy who desperately wanted to paint but couldn't find a piece of paper. I offered him a coloured piece and was told, "That's for cutting, not for painting."

He wouldn't paint until he had the same rectangular piece of white paper he had always been supplied with. He painted the same picture he had been praised for previously. He was terrified of exploring anything beyond what he had already experienced.

At that point my commitment to encouraging children to express themselves and their individual creativity was cemented. My enthusiasm for the use of loose parts grew further still, and my love of 'transient art' came into its own.

Transient art, by its name and nature, is 'art that's moveable'. Put simply, it's the use of lots of materials to create a picture, pattern or structure; a process of creating with loose parts with no permanent end product; a way of creating both indoors and out whilst incorporating many other elements of learning.

Using loose parts as an open-ended resource in early years has been advocated since the 1970s when Simon Nicholson coined the phrase and noted that, "creativity and the possibility of discovery are directly proportional to the number and kind of variables".

In other words, if we give children lots of different materials to work with, the learning opportunities become endless, restricted only by the child's own imagination. The availability of lots of resources with no right or wrong use is now embedded in best practice and supports learning across the EYFS, not just in creativity.

The term 'transient art' encompasses this creative side to using loose parts but, as with other types of child-led learning, goes hand in hand with other areas of development.

Transient or fixed?

Traditional art offerings in early years require children to paint or stick, resulting in a permanent end product. Once the painting, gluing or cutting has been completed, there's little room for retracing your steps or reworking without completely starting over.

For children still building confidence in both their own skills and style, this approach can be restrictive and demoralising, and may result in avoidance for fear of failure or being unable to achieve their desired effect.

Transient art offers an opportunity for children to create and explore ideas without such pressures. Children quickly realise that the non-permanent nature of their creations allows them to move, to change, to experiment and to explore.

They are able to combine materials, to design and redesign, to take apart and put back together until they're happy with what they have achieved. They are able to explore colour, texture and shape with freedom and individuality, knowing that there is no right or wrong result. They grow in confidence as they build on their own ideas and explore their own thinking.

Indoors and out

Transient art can, and should, be offered both indoors and outdoors. Outdoors it is commonly referred to as 'land art', which has been made popular by artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Richard Shilling.

Land art, as the name suggests, uses all the resources of the earth and nature as its inspiration. For example, leaves of many colours can be combined with pine cones, sticks, stones, shells and logs to create amazing patterns and pictures.

As with much outdoor learning, it can embrace the space offered and lead to much larger-scale creations that encourage cooperation and communication skills as children work together. Indoor transient art resources tend to be a combination of both natural and man-made materials, including glass beads, bead strings, material scraps, shells and pebbles.

Space to create

Working with loose parts takes some planning from the practitioner. The resources need to look inviting so children will come and explore, and need to be both accessible and mobile. Baskets are an ideal storage solution and allow children to move the resources to where they choose to create.

Offering a selection of mirrors and wooden picture frames gives children a defined space to work with - creating a picture within the frame that can be tweaked and added to until the child is happy with the result. As well as planning for the resources, you also have to plan for the space and time for children to create: children need room to spread out, to develop their ideas and the time to follow these through without interruption.

Displaying CoEL

As with the use of other loose parts such as block play, transient art offers an opportunity for children to access and display many Characteristics of Effective Learning.

If the invitation to play is exciting enough, children will naturally play and explore; will become engrossed in their own thinking and ideas; will change and rearrange their creations, problem-solving as they go; and will delight in achieving what they set out to do - all while being creative and thinking critically.

Recording the process

The moveable nature of this approach means the focus for learning is firmly on the process of thinking and rethinking, rather than on the end product, which cannot be displayed in a gallery alongside paintings and collages.

As such the recording of transient art needs to go hand in hand with recording the learning process. A photograph can record the end product, but multiple photographs will record the process of learning that took place in getting to the end result. Needless to say, the latter is much more useful in assessing learning and as a tool for supporting children's ongoing development.

Try it yourself

So next time you place a sunflower on a table and expect children to reproduce it for a display, or you place your rectangular piece of paper on your painting easel with the same four colours pots, ask yourself, "Am I really offering something that actively encourages creative thinking and individual expression? Am I creating to display or displaying creativity?" Maybe it's time to add transient art to your continuous provision, sit back and watch the creativity and confidence unfold in front of you.

It's easy to get started. Collect as many loose parts as you can, both natural and man-made. You can find cheap old mirrors and picture frames at car boot sales and charity shops, glass beads from home furnishings and pound shops, and material and wood from scrapstores. Visit scrapstoresuk.org for your nearest scrapstore, and see Stimulating Learning with Rachel ( stimulatinglearning.co.uk) - a great page with lots of transient art inspiration.

Links with maths

The open-ended, play-based nature of transient art lends itself to learning across the EYFS, but opportunities for maths learning abound, in particular...

Children can explore and talk about repeating patterns, non-standard shapes such as spirals, and comparisons of size

Creating artworks on mirrors affords first-hand experience of reflection and symmetry

The fluid nature of the process enables children to experiment with using space as they build their creations

Transient art helps to make all of these concepts more 'real', building on children's interests and negating the need for formalised, adult-led tasks. It allows practitioners to look for the maths in the play rather than taking the children to the maths.

Kirstine Beeley is an author and educational consultant. Her new book, This is how we do it! Characteristics of Effective Learning in Early Years, is available now from playingtolearnuk.com.

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Keeping you up-to-date with the latest on education, including great teaching ideas and current issues in education.

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Resources to artists and key points of Transient Art

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Resources to artists and key points of Transient Art

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use this resource to further develop your knowledge and language around transient art, examples of famous artists and how to set up and engage with transient art

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In my twelve years of teaching children aged 3 to 5, I've used transient art opportunities in my learning environment more or less continually.

It's just fantastic!

It offers a way of:

Constructing and deconstructing

Exploring ideas

Experimenting with shape and form

Storytelling

Talking through their ideas

Being creative

And exploring famous art and artists

To give children ideas, it is a great idea to share with them examples of transient art by famous artists.
By simply sharing pictures, and talking about what the children see, you can get the children really engaged in transient art, and explore lots of different possibilities.

My 6 favorite transient artists and famous art examples to explore are:

1. Andy Goldsworthy - Land and nature art

2. Matisse - Cut-outs

3. Picasso - Assemblage

4. Walter Mason - Leaf art

5. Richard Long - Stones art

6. Bill Dan - Balancing rocks

In this post, I'll dive into some fantastic works to share with children, and some of the key features to talk about. These projects would be great for all children from the age of about 3 to 9 - just do the project in a different way depending on the age of the children.

What is Transient Art?
Transient art is quite simply art that is not fixed or permanent.
It is often a collection of objects that are arranged in a certain way only for a fleeting moment of time.

This type of art is perfect for children, as they can construct and deconstruct artworks over and over.

How Do Children Engage With Transient Art?
When children engage with transient art, the emphasis is the moment of creation, rather than the finished artwork.
The simplest way to create transient art is with loose parts or other random objects.

Have some kind of tray of random objects, such as this:

A 'tinker tray' with loose parts in is a fantastic tool for delivering transient art experiences

You use the objects to make art.

Picture frames are also a beautiful way to help children structure their transient art-works.

You can use smaller objects for indoor transient art, and large objects for outdoor (as their art can be bigger outside).

Have a range of resources that link with the artworks and artists below:

7 Famous Transient Art Examples (With Artists)

1. Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy really is the King of Transient Art, and I would recommend starting the children with his works.

They really are a treasure trove of ideas, but also have an element of simplicity as well.

For a bit of context, Andy Goldsworthy was born in 1956. He is from the UK, originally living in Cheshire, but since moving to Scotland.

He is most well-known for his nature 'sculptures'.

According to 'Artnet' ( Source) Goldsworthy, 'crafts his installations out of rocks, ice, leaves, or branches, cognizant that the landscape will change.'

He creates beautiful patterns and colorful effects.

This kind of art is brilliant for children that enjoy positioning schemas (placing objects next to each other).
His art is both about nature and also about time. So after he has created something, he documents how it changes over the coming weeks and months.
As Artnet put it, 'He carefully documents the ephemeral collaborations with nature through photography.'

A good way to introduce children to Goldsworthy is just to google some images by him, pick one, and show it to the children.

Or you could talk through a slideshow video such as this one:

How To Use These Ideas:

Print out a picture, and have a selection of natural materials that mimic what you see in the artwork. The children can use the same resources to create their own interpretations

2. Matisse Cut-Outs

Now on to the one that I have probably used the most in my education career - Matisse Cut-outs.

Henri Matisse (31 December 1869 - 3 November 1954) was a famous French artist, and one of the founding fathers of modern art. ( Source)

In his later years, he developed a style of art called cut-outs.

He was in his late seventies when he first began this style, was bedridden, and wasn't able to access paints and canvases the way he had previously.

He took to sitting in bed and cutting into giant sheets of brightly colored paper with huge shears.

He then arranged these colored shapes into artworks.
Technically these are not transient artworks, as they are fixed. However, they can be the inspiration for transient art.
Here is a video of him in action:

Some great examples to show the children include:

- Snail (which you can view here)

- The Sheaf (which you can view on this site)

But you can literally just google 'Matisse cut-outs' and see what takes your fancy.

How To Use These Ideas

Have a large printed picture

Offer a selection of loose parts in similar colors. For example, if you were doing the 'Snail', then some brightly colored pegs, leaves, gems, or any other type of loose part would work well

Using picture frames works really well for this type of transient art

3. Picasso Assemblage

This is another huge wealth of potential ideas for inspiring children.

Picasso (25 October 1881 - 8 April 1973) is of course one of the biggest names in the history of art. Born in Spain, he lived for the majority of his artistic career in France.

Picasso's assemblage constructions were literally combinations of random objects and junk that he combined to create a sculpture.

He would regularly make them from objects he found in scrapyards.

Google 'Picasso Assemblage' and you'll see the sorts of things he came up with.
Picasso created sculptures out of metal, wood, cardboard, boxes, spoons, kitchen appliances, poles, nails, screws - pretty much anything he could find.
All these objects took on their own significance.

A great example is his 'Head of a Bull' ( Which you can see here).

Which is quite simply made out of a bicycle seat for the head of the bull, and a pair of handlebars for the horns.

How To Use These ideas

Show the children some examples of these types of sculptures

Have plenty of random objects available in a transient art learning area.

4. Walter Mason

Mason is a contemporary artist, based in Berlin.

His main resource is using leaves in his artworks.
Mason will cut patterns into leaves, as well as geometric designs. He joins the leaves together or arranges them in patterns.
It is a very simple and child-friendly form of art.

Also, it is truly transient art, in that his artworks are only temporary.

It has been described that 'This organic art is only temporary - a fleeting moment of organization in a seemingly chaotic world.' (Source)

How to Use These Ideas:

I'd recommend googling 'Walter Mason Leaf Art', and picking some examples.

Then either print the examples or show the children on a screen.

Have a selection of leaves, and things to make holes in them - for example, hole punches that make differently shaped holes.

5. Richard Long

Sir Richard Long (born 2 June 1945) is a British sculptor.

Wikipedia describes how, 'His work typically is made of earth, rock, mud, stone, and other nature-based materials. In exhibitions, his work is typically displayed with the materials or through documentary photographs of his performances and experiences.'

Long creates arrangements of natural objects such as stones, in a range of patterns.

He has done artworks in a range of different countries, and the different landscapes give a specific flavor to each work.

For example, he created a 'Sahara Circle,' which was quite simply a circle of large sandy rocks in the Sahara desert.

Here is a slideshow video that will give children some inspiration about the type of art that he creates:

How To Recreate His Art

Have a selection of natural objects - particularly stones, sticks, leaves, and that kind of thing

Attempt both indoors and outdoors, but outdoors can be on a larger scale

6. Bill Dan

Bill Dan is a contemporary sculptor from San Francisco.

He specializes in balancing rocks in a multitude of formations.

Here is a video of him in action:

This video would be an ideal introduction to Dan for children, as this format really gives them a sense of the moveable nature of Dan's work.
His sculptures are living, continually changing arrangements, and the children can see at least a glimpse of the creative process in action.
Dan tries not to overthink his work and emphasizes the simplicity of what he is trying to do.

Some Top Tips In Creating Transient Art With Children

You never really know what children will come up with when they try transient art, so here are some tips to get the best out of the experience:

These artists are just for inspiration. The children don't need to copy them - just adapt their ideas

2. Praise any efforts whatever they look like!

3. Ask questions about what they have created, but try not to interrupt the creative process too much when they are mid-flow. Questions are better delivered afterward, so they can talk you through what they have created

4. Create transient art both indoors and outdoors

5. Have a range of objects that the children can utilize independently

6. If doing transient art indoors, then have a range of picture frames for the children to use. These really help them to give structure to their creations

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6 Famous Transient Art Examples (+Teaching Ideas) | Early Impact Learning

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In my twelve years of teaching children aged 3 to 5, I've used transient art opportunities in my learning environment more or less continually. It's just fantastic!