Family Explorer Activities: Allison Katz, Silent Sounds (BSL)
Activities to do in the gallery and at home with Artist Sian, and Little Artist, Aoife, together with a little help from pupils at Huntingdon Academy.
Allison Katz is interested in how we use our bodies and movements to communicate and connect with spaces around us, the spaces you can see and not see. Using frames, such as mouths, nostrils, and peepholes, she lets you peer through and discover new ways to see, to connect and communicate.
In this activity you explore the artwork and ideas words through a guessing game of Silent Sounds.Take a look at the film to see what it’s all about.
Here’s a few extra activities you can do at home:
Silent Sounds
Take a look at the mouth images from the Silent Sound Chart to help you think about how words are broken up into different shapes.
Without making any sound, choose a word from the list of Allison Katz words and see if you can mouth out the phonics of each word. Hold the shape of your mouth into its different sound shapes.
Allison Katz words:
Glass
Peephole
Kiss
Invisible
Cat
Canal
Teeth
Open
Artery
Gallery
Bird
Lift
To make it more of a challenge, see if you can mix up the words and add some new ones. Create a whole sentence for you and your partner to guess. They could be:
‘The glass cat is invisible’
‘A bird swam in the canal’
Word Association Game
Face each other and get ready to play the Word Association Game
Remember we are not speaking out loud but using our mouths to form the shapes of the words. Start with one of the Alison Katz words and then get your partner to say the first thing that comes to their mind.
For example, if you say the word “BIRD” and your partner might say the word “EGG”. Then, the next person should say the first word which comes to their mind, for example, “BEANS”, “TOAST”
See how many words you can mouth out before you have no more to say!
To add more of a challenge, create a frame around your mouth with your hands while sounding out different words.
You can also download our illustrated frames, print and cut out and use these to hold around your mouth. Or you can you design your own, or even think about different objects you might use to create a frame?
A rolled-up magazine, a cardboard tube or even a cardboard box! Something that has a hole all the way through.
We would love to see how you got on! Share your visit and game play on our social media #NCmaking
This activity was created by Associate Artist, Sian Watson-Taylor
Vote for Us! Kids in Museums most Family Friendly Museum Award
If you have enjoyed taking part in any of our digital family activities we would really appreciate you shouting about it! Nominations are open for ‘Kids in Museums:Family Friendly Museum Award 2021”. You can place your vote here. Thank you!
Share Your Feedback, complete our Family Survey
Working digitally, means we miss all those lovely conversations we would usually have with you, sharing ideas, listening, and seeing how you respond to our workshops. It is difficult to get feedback when we don't see you and this would really help.
The survey takes about 10 mins or less to complete and it will really help our team to understand more about what you thought ready for when we are back together at Nottingham Contemporary. You can fill out our survey by clicking here.
We'd love to hear what you think.