The Sung Dynasty was an ornate period of Chinese culture, lasting from 960 to 1279 A.D. The political landscape was unstable but the arts flourished. Landscape painting was very popular and simplicity and detail of botanical elements, like flowers and bamboo, were prized. Wood block printing and movable type were invented, and traditional cultural celebrations continued to mark important occasions like the lunar new year. Crafts for students can underscore lessons on Sung Dynasty history.
Block Printing
Create beautiful wrapping paper with hand printed block designs on mulberry sheets. Collect copies of Chinese stamp designs and extend a modest collection with contemporary stamps of Chinese calligraphy, flowers like peonies or chrysanthemums, images of pagodas and dragons. Talk about the invention of movable type in China during the Sung Dynasty. Stamp the mulberry paper using colored ink pads. Encourage the kids to develop their own layering and designs. Use the finished paper to wrap Chinese New Year gifts or cover a writing tablet or a decorative box to use for treasures.
Paint Bamboo
Bamboo is easy to paint, even for very young artists, with a few simple tricks of the brush. Use large sheets of plain newsprint, bamboo brushes and black ink in a small dish. To make each joint of the bamboo stem, press the inked brush sideways against the paper and then repeat just above the first mark, leaving a little space between the joints. Connect the joints with light thin lines to form the bamboo stem but leave the small spaces between the joints unconnected. To make leaves, press the inked brush on the paper so the fat end of the brush is the wide end of the leaf, tapering to a point at the tip. Alternatively, make leaves by lightly pressing the brush to the paper and then drawing it up so the ink tapers to a point before the brush leaves the paper. A thin line drawn from the joint holds the leaves, which may be clustered thickly or suggested sparsely, depending on the design of the artist.
Lucky Orange Collage
Oranges are an enduring symbol of wealth and good fortune in China and especially symbolic during the time of the lunar new year. Children of all ages can make a lucky bowl of oranges as a simple collage. Use cups and a plate to trace the shapes. Trace four or more cup shapes on a variety of orange papers, such as tissue, construction paper, old wrapping paper or corrugated cardboard. Trace a half plate on red paper for a bowl. Cut out the shapes. Glue the red bowl to a sheet of oak tag but leave the top edge unglued. Heap the oranges in the red bowl, overlapping some and tucking the bottom ends under the edge of the red paper. Glue everything down. Paint or decorate the bowl or leave it plain.
Nature Painting
A cherry blossom painting is pretty and easy to manage in one art class. Older children can wash their sheet of watercolor paper with a light film of water. Then dot a brush loaded with pink paint all over the paper where the flowers will be. Watch the paint spread into fuzzy blobs. When the paint is dry, draw thin branches to make a trunk or branch and connect some of the flowers using a fine black marker. Smaller children can draw the trunk and branches first with black marker or crayon. Then they press their thumbs on a pink ink pad and stamp thumbprints all over the top of the paper for a cloud of blossoms on the tree.
