Bear Cereal.
Progress catch up/ Idea generation session.
Today me and Caitlin met up to discuss our progress with one another.
I shared with Caitlin the image of the bear I had started to produce which could take part of the series of cut out letters that would be included on the back of the box. She was very happy with the style and execution of the piece I had done.
Caitlin then showed me some sketches she had done, completing a similar process to me in which she took letters, and applied an animal to each of the letter shapes. Caitlin was very strong at manipulating the shape of an animal to fit the curves etc of a letter and therefore we decided that Caitlin would make the structure for each of the letters, and I would digitally produce them in a consistent style afterwards.
We then came together and decided to start afresh brainstorming activities for the back of the box, in order to get our creative juices flowing we decided to started to pick an animal for each letter (we picked 5 with an aim to collaboratively create 5 box backs) however, we researched a couple of other animals just incase we had time to produce more at the end. We wanted to choose animals that children would already know about such as a bear and an elephant, and introduce them to knew ones as a matter of learning, such as a Gecko, or Chameleon, further improving their knowledge.
We found facts for each of the animals, as the boxes for the cereal are currently very facts based. We thought that pulling out facts would provide us with some kind of a base which we could create activities.
The facts we found are shown below:
Elephant:
• Elephants are the largest land animals in the world.
The brain is 3 or 4 times larger than that of humans although smaller as a proportion of body weight.
• Elephants purr like cats do, as a means of communication.
• The elephant trunk has more than 40,000 muscles in it.
• Elephants have greeting ceremonies when a friend that has been away for some time returns to the group.
• Elephants prefer one tusk over the other, just as people are either left or right-handed.
Octopus:
- Octopuses have three hearts. Two pump blood through each of the two gills, while the third pumps blood through the body.
- If all else fails, an octopus can lose an arm to escape a predator's grasp and re-grow it later with no permanent damage.
- They have been found to play with a ‘toy’ and to have individual responses and individual temperaments.
- The areas around the eyes, suckers, arms, and web may darken so the octopus appears more threatening.
-In early spring, octopuses move closer to the shore to mate. Two months after mating, the female releases 100,000-500,000 eggs.
- There are 300 different species of octopus, all are venemous, but only one is deadly.
Gecko's:
- Geckos are reptiles and are found on all the continents except Antarctica. These colorful lizards have adapted to habitats from rain forests, to deserts, to cold mountain slopes.
- Geckos are also able to shed their tails if a predator grabs them. The gecko runs off leaving its twitching tail behind.
- Most geckos make noises such as chirping, barking, and clicking when they are defending their territory or attracting a mate.
-Most geckos don’t have movable eyelids and instead have one transparent eyelid which they keep clean by licking it with their tongues.
- There are over 1,000 species of geckos.
Chameleon.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMT1FLzEn9I
- 1. Almost half of the world’s chameleon species live on the island of Madagascar, with 59 different species existing nowhere outside of the island. There are approximately 160 species of chameleon. They range from Africa to southern Europe, and across south Asia to Sri Lanka. They have also been introduced into the United States in places such as Hawaii, California and Florida.
- 2. Colour Changing. Most chameleons change from brown to green and back, but some can turn almost any colour. A change can occur in as little as 20 seconds. Chameleons are born with special cells that have a colour or pigment in them. These cells lie in layers under the chameleon’s outer skin. They are called chromatophores. The top layers of chromatophores have red or yellow pigment. The lower layers have blue or white pigment. When these pigment cells change, the chameleon’s skin colour changes.
Chromatophores change because they get a message from the brain. The message tells the cells to enlarge or to shrink. These actions cause cell pigments to mix—just like paint. A chemical called melanin also helps chameleons turn colour. Melanin fibers can spread like spiderwebs through layers of pigment cells and their presence causes skin to darken.
Many people think chameleons change colour to blend in with their surroundings.
- 3. Chameleon eyes have a 360-degree arc of vision and can see two directions at once.
- 4. Chameleons vary greatly in size and body structure, with maximum total length varying from 15 millimetres (0.6 in) in male Brookesia micra (one of the world’s smallest reptiles) to 68.5 centimetres (30 in) in the male Furcifer oustaleti.
- They have Ballistic tongues that are 1.5-2 times the length of their body.
Owls:
- Owls are active at night (nocturnal)
- Owls can turn their heads as much as 270 degrees.
An owl has three eyelids: one for blinking, one for sleeping and one for keeping the eye clean and healthy.
Not all owls hoot, and owls can make a wide range of other sounds, such as screeches, whistles, barks and hisses. During the nesting season, owl calls can often be heard up to a mile away.
- A group of owls is called a parliament, wisdom or study. Baby owls are called owlets.
Bear:
- Grizzly bears have a better sense of smell than a hound dog and can detect food from miles away.
- Top speed 35 mph.
- Today, there are an estimated 1,800 grizzly bears remaining in five populations in the lower 48 states. Most of these bears are located in the Northern Continental Divide Population (including Glacier National Park) and the Yellowstone Population. Alaska is home to a healthy grizzly (sometimes called brown bear) population.
- Grizzly bears need to eat a lot in the summer and fall in order to build up sufficient fat reserves to survive the winter denning period.
- Dramatic gatherings of grizzly bears can be seen at prime Alaskan fishing spots when the salmon run upstream for summer spawning. In this season, dozens of bears may gather to feast on the fish, craving fats that will sustain them through the long winter ahead.
Jellyfish:
- Some can be very hard to see, nearly invisible to the human eye.
- A group of jellyfish is called a ‘bloom’, ‘swarm’ or ‘smack’.
- Large blooms can feature over 100000 jellyfish.
- Jellyfish don’t have brains.
- ... some jellyfish are bigger than a human and others are as small as a pinhead?
- ... that jellyfish have been on Earth for millions of years, even before dinosaurs?
Once we had all the facts together we came up with the structure to have 2 activities on the back of the pack and the construction of the animal letter.
We wanted one of the activities to be individually for the child, and Caitlin thought of the second activity in which the parents could be included aswell.
The first activity would be an interactive game such as spot the difference, colouring in etc which would have a link with the facts about the facts of each animal. Whilst the second activity would be a card inside the box, with a set of questions relating to the facts on the box, as the child reads over the box for the week, the parent/guardian can then ask the child questions about what they have learnt. Science shows that children learn better when interacting with others and working within a team.
'Children’s choices and interests are the driving force for building knowledge, skills and understanding: by working and playing with other people, they are constantly learning about themselves and their social and cultural worlds.'
'Neuroscientists study how the human brain develops and functions, and how human minds are
formed. Their research shows that children are highly motivated, intelligent learners, who actively
seek interactions with the people around them – from the earliest gaze of infants towards their
caregivers, to the confident child who asks ‘Will you come and play with me?’ Children have ‘built-in’
exploratory tendencies, and engage all their senses to investigate and master tools and resources,
to develop their skills, and to build their knowledge and understanding of the world.'
Source
The list of interactive activities that we came up with for each animal are as follows:
Chameleon (C)
A colouring in task, playing upon the idea that Chameleons change colour in order to camoflage themselves.
'Colour Changing. Most chameleons change from brown to green and back, but some can turn almost any colour. A change can occur in as little as 20 seconds. Chameleons are born with special cells that have a colour or pigment in them.'
An outline with white fill illustration of a chameleon against a vibrant jungle background (luscious green trees, bright exotic flowers). Children are asked to colour the chameleon in and help him hide from his predator. ( A money swinging in the trees in the background.
Elephant (E)
A problem solving task based upon the aspects of elephant social gatherings.
• Elephants have greeting ceremonies when a friend that has been away for some time returns to the group.
A maze, in which the middle is a social gathering, there are 2/3 openings to the maze in which there are elephants, who want to find their way to the social gathering. 'Help us find our way to the party, we've missed our friend and want to say hello.'
Jellyfish (J)
A spot the object game, based upon the idea that some jellyfish are almost undetectable to the human eye.
- Some can be very hard to see, nearly invisible to the human eye.
An ocean scene filled with different types of fish, mammals, coral, reefs, rocks etc, and children are asked if they can spot all the jellyfish.
Bear (B)
A select the right object game, also a problem solving task, based upon the idea of brown bears enjoying eating salmon.
- Dramatic gatherings of grizzly bears can be seen at prime Alaskan fishing spots when the salmon run upstream for summer spawning.
The idea I came up with was to have a selection of fish rods 4/5, with items attatched to the end, an old boot, seaweed, fishing net and 2 salmon. The fishing wires have become muddled up. Ask the children to find which fishing ropes have the salmon attached to the end.
Owl (O)
Quick and fun activity based upon the fact that owls are nocturnal, and come out at night time.
Owl (O)
Quick and fun activity based upon the fact that owls are nocturnal, and come out at night time.
- Owls are active at night (nocturnal)
Print the owls onto the box in glow in the dark and heat sensitive screen printing ink. Ask the children to turn off the lights and rub the box to make the owls come out.
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