HeArts Trip

Last Wednesday I went on my first ever HeArts trip. I was expecting to be working with sick kids, in hospitals and suchlike, and I was surprised when I arrived and found a group of school kids instead. However, I understood that it is extremely difficult to work with children in hospitals (it's an emotional experience, and at times they find it hard to participate in activities). I was very excited to be starting with HeArts because I love the arts, and feel that it is a critical for the wellbeing of the children (as well as ourselves).
The HeArts group was split into a number of groups, including the dance group, a painting group, a mosaic group, origami group, and friendship bracelet making group. We agreed that small groups of kids would rotate to each station throughout the time we had - these groups were very small, including 5 or less students. I was in the painting group with two other members of the group, and we set up paints, paper and pencils in our station. We decided amongst ourselves that we were going to ask them to draw their favourite animals. I think that it was a good idea to set a task because it gave the kids something solid to work on, and allowed us to get to know them individually.

Our first group was a little uncertain at first, a few of the girls saying that they couldn't draw, but we walked them through a simple drawing of a cat and they seemed a lot more comfortable afterwards. I decided to draw a dragon myself, in order to let the group get a feeling for the kind of thing that they could do. A lot of the students really liked my dragon, and I ended up doing linearts for them to colour in! I think this was a really cool way to get them to be creative, because some were not confident enough to do their own drawing, but still really liked using the paints and pencils. I especially connected with one boy who asked for a number of linearts - he named all the dragons and was telling me about how his favourite animal was spiderman! He was really sweet, and promised that if I taught him how to draw dragons he would teach me how to dance!

The other groups also got on really well, the dance group put together an amazing choreography (which was performed at the end of the day) and all the kids seemed really enthusiastic about it. The origami group also made little wind turbines, which were on sticks and relatively easy to make (but still challenging enough for the kids). The mosaic group also decorated little print outs of Pinocchio, and the work of the friendship bracelet group was evidence as the kids left with multiple vibrant bracelets at the end of the day! The fact that these kids were already really talented at art was a new experience for me, as I've only really been working with children that haven't had the chance to do a lot of these activities in the past. The children that came to HeArts were selected because they're already exceptional at the arts, and their collaboration and passion for everything that they did was evidence enough of this fact. I loved how eager they were to learn new techniques, and the ways in which they helped to support each other.
At the end of the day we gave them all a snack and then did a dancing game together. We held hands in a circle and individuals were chosen to come into the middle and do a small dance. The kids were amazing at this, and their dance moves were incredible! I felt rather self conscious of my own abilities!

This was a wonderful first trip, I enjoyed the fact that I was allowed to explore my own artistic abilities whilst helping these children at the same time. The atmosphere that was created was extremely positive and I loved how involved everybody was. The sharing of our own individual art at the end also emphasised the effectiveness of this group at embracing all artistic talents within the community. I definitely look forward to my next trip!