Kangaroo Flat Primary School

ARTS CRITICISM AND AESTHETICS
Our school decided to take part in the Baby Dragon project as part of our Wednesday afternoon K-Day program, which focuses on kinaesthetic activities for children from grade 3 to 6. Seventeen children started the project by reflecting on the significance and use of dragons in Asian culture, especially China. They used books, photos, clothing and figurines acquired during a staff member's study tour to China. Ralph Beh, the education officer from the Golden Dragon museum, was invited to speak to the children, and further illustrated through a series of slides the history of the Chinese in Bendigo, the importance of various colours used, and the distinguishing features of different types of dragons.

ART SKILLS, TECHNIQUES AND PROCESSES
The first task for the children was to design their dragon, then using an empty 2 litre plastic container, two aluminium cans, some empty overlocker thread spools, a piece of sturdy cardboard cylinder, two aluminium pie plates, a second piece of sturdy cardboard, newspaper and masking tape, they fashioned the dragon's head and back. The plastic container became the base for the head, slots were cut and the cans inserted for eye bases and the cardboard cylinder was inserted for a handle. The foil plates were secured on to the head forming the mouth, and the spools became small horns. All the construction was secured with Masking Tape. Tightly rolled balls of newspaper were attached with Masking Tape to pad out the dragon's face to give it a nose, chin, cheeks, a place for a mirror, and padding where the child felt it was needed. Step two was to wrap the entire head and cardboard back plate in tin foil, adding longer horns if required. Step three saw the children covering the head and back plate with one layer of papier-mâché consisting of tissue paper and P.V.A. Once dry the heads were light and very strong.
The children then decided on the colours to paint their dragons. They reflected on the talk with Ralph Beh who told them that pink indicates youth, red is for happiness, green means growing, blue represents the sky and water, yellow/gold denotes royalty as does purple, whereas black is used for strength. The dragon-head back plate and free flowing tail (made from Tyvek) were painted with Viponds acrylic paint. The children then assembled all the decorations for their dragons: old Christmas decorations, Tinsel, Sequins, Honeycomb, Tinsel Stems, silver, gold and red bead chain, Mini Patty Pans, Gold Doylies, CD cases, Pom-Poms, Polystyrene Balls, feather boas, Chinese papers and Glass Jewels, were glued on to the dragon heads using Glue Guns and Tacky Glue. The free flowing tails were fringed and small pieces of shiny contact were added to give the appearance of mirrors.

RESPONDING TO THE ARTS
The total class time for completing this project was 9 one-hour sessions, plus many lunch times. At the completion of the project, the seventeen very excited children presented their dragons to the wider school community at the final school assembly for term 1. The children were very pleased with the comments from their peers and parents. The culmination of the project saw the children wearing T-shirts in the You Can Do It colours of red, green, blue, purple and yellow when they participated in the Easter parade with their dragons: they were very nervous and very proud of their achievement. Our flight of Baby Dragons was very well received by the crowd, which lined the route through the streets of Bendigo. One special highlight for the children was to stand with Sun Loong and have their photo taken.