It Isn't Easy Being Green

It's hard to believe I've taken a few month hiatus from posting here, and the best thing I can come up with is a story about the Mucinex mascot. Luckily for you, I failed to find the exact image of him that I used for my art class graphic duplication exercise. In case you aren't familiar with this character, he is the personified version of the material that is produced from congestion. Who would bring that in to a class full of kindergartners, you ask? Well, the enrichment program I work at in Chinatown provides very few materials, so I have to scrounge and brainstorm on my own. Advertising circulars are abundunt on my doorstep, so I came across this cute image of Mr. M. looking very green with a crabby expression spread across his broad face. Apparently his host had taken the medication and sent him packing in the middle of the night. Poor guy never had a chance to even dress properly. I handed this picture to each of my 6 four and five years olds today for our first lesson on copying images. I ask them to tell me if they know who this guy is. At first there is a lot of head shaking. Then finally one of my four year old twins screams out 'Kung Fu Panda!' I can't control a laugh. Then I go over all the elements in the image with them, and remind them to include all the details, like his pajamas, his pillow tucked under his arm, the moon in the background. After a few minutes, one of the girls hands me her finished product. She has drawn to near perfection only the details, but has neglected to draw the actual character inhabiting them. I tell her that's OK, she can draw him underneath the details, at the bottom of the page. She laughs and says, 'But I don't want to draw him in his underwear!' How can you not love the way their little minds work? Of course, why would she bother to draw his pajamas a second time when they were all perfectly composed up above?