A couple of weeks ago I went to an Andy Warhol exhibition in Wellington. There were kindergarten children there with their teachers. Now for me Andy Warhol brings to mind Bianca Jagger riding a horse into Studio 54 and people openly snorting cocaine off tables (and this is from someone who has never had the slightest desire to set foot inside a club). I wouldn't have considered taking 5 year olds to an Andy Warhol exhibition, but New Zealand is cutting edge when it comes to early childhood education. A lot of what's in our framework comes from there. I pretended not to eavesdrop and prepared to learn.
This is what I heard:
Teacher:
This is called screen printing. We could do this when we get back to work.
5 year old:
You mean kindy?
Teacher:
It's my work. It's your kindy.
5 year old:
Look. The queen.
Teacher:
It's our queen. Look at the colours. Do you like the pink and yellow one? How do those colours make you feel? Do they make you feel happy?
Not sure what I think about this one. I don't think the benefits would outweigh the cost involved. There was quite explicit nudity in one painting and the self portraits are pretty terrifying. The rest of the museum was fantastic for children though and all free. There were heaps of dead, stuffed animals, the only giant squid in the world that's in a museum, and Phar Lap's skeleton (and you thought he was in Melbourne didn't you? Some of him is).
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