Nottingham Contemporary

Hello everyone, my name is Charlotte and I'm an artist and I work at Nottingham Contemporary. As part of my job I work in schools, and in two schools in particular, Edna G Olds Academy and Southwold Primary School. (So, a very big hello to all the children, families and staff from there!). Even though we can't meet and be creative face to face we can still be creative together over the internet. I made lots of fun challenges for us to do. Your families can also do them too. I’ll be doing them - Here we go!

Activity 1: Window diary

• Look out of a window in your house and document the daily changes. It could be the weather; it could be new animals, it could be things happening in the street.
• Record these changes by drawing the view or by writing down and what’s changed each day
• Put your ear up to the window pane and listen to what you can hear. Can you write down these sounds? They don't have to be actual words, for example instead of writing 'the sound of a car' you could write it's sound- durdurdurdurdur dddddddd
• Can you open the window? What does it feel like, can you write this down too? If you can’t describe the room instead.
• Give the air a sniff, can you describe this in words too?

Activity 2: Exploring Sounds

• Stand, or sit outside your door and listen to what you can hear.
• Try and stay for 3 minutes and take in all the sounds.
• Write down everything you can hear.
• Arrange these words into a pattern or shape on a piece of paper or a digital screen. Words can be upside down, different sizes and shapes - they don’t have to be readable
• Repeat the activity the following day. Did you hear different sounds?

Activity 3: Sensory Map

• Can you make a map of your house using your senses? You can explore a single room or explore from room to room.
• Pick a room - sit and try to explore it with your senses. You can use one sense at a time, for example: touch, or smell, or hearing, or pick a sense for different rooms or areas.
• How you could put this together in a map? – you could invent a symbol for sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. You can add words, symbols and pictures or sticks things on, for example to show texture.
• How is your house different if you explore it one sense at a time? Which parts of your house connect with different senses – which areas are quiet, noisy or feely?