When the Grade R class first joins Kairos, I start the year with a theme that enables the children to get to know themselves and each other. 

This year I called the five-week theme You & Me. We explored the human body, different family structures as well as the child’s hopes and dreams. Towards the end of the theme, we began creating Body Maps. It is an activity I thoroughly enjoy due to its life-size scale, the various mediums used and the insights one gets into the child. The children were asked to imagine what their body looks like when they are very happy and to position themselves in such a way on the paper, while Teacher Kathala (a visiting teacher) drew their outlines. They were then given coloured pencils, pastels and koki pens to begin drawing inside their body outlines. Again, the instruction was to think of things and colours that made them happy. Once they had completed their drawings and colouring, they were offered materials, such as raffia, cellophane, tissue paper and cloth to cut out and glue to their bodies. Each child presented themselves in their own unique way, from being surrounded by nature or showing the internal workings of their pulmonary system, to being transformed into a pegasus or mermaid, or dressed for their wedding day or as a Roman soldier. They were beautiful and told me so much about each child’s inner world, not only from the choices they made but also from how they approached the project. 

Lastly, we needed to display their body maps. One of the children suggested cutting out the bodies and placing them against a forest background, as that is the name the children had chosen for the Grade R class a few weeks earlier, The Forest Class. A Grade 4 child helped the children paint a forest background using sponges and toothbrushes, choosing the colours they wished to use before we glued their bodies into the forest. I hope you enjoy the images as much as we enjoyed the process.