Arts Explorer # 7: Grocery Shopping With a Twist

Art Word of the Week: Mass or Volume

          While doing grocery shopping, one comes across various shapes, patterns and sizes. In addition, many food items also fall under the category of mass and volume as many food items are three dimensional in nature. For this blog, I will be looking at fruit and the ways in which mass and volume are portrayed in fruits. There are countless fruits, however, just to name a  few:

·         Apple                                                                                                 

·         Pear

·         Banana

·         Kiwi

·         Strawberry

·         Grapes

·         Cantaloupe

·         Oranges

·         Pomegranate

·         Mango

·         Apricot

·         Peach

·         Nectarine

·         Pineapple

·         Lemon                                                                                                          

·         Lime

·         Key lime

·         Coconut

·         Lychee

·      

 bj       I chose to use mass and volume to this blog as "mass and volume is an appropriate criteria for critiquing three-dimensional art, which has height, length and width" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 142). In addition, mass and volume can also be portrayed as "angular or curved, big or small. heavy, bulky, massive, light and delicate" (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 142). This concept can be applied to fruits and grocer shopping as i use this criteria to chose food when i go shopping. For instance, when choosing strawberries, the ones that are big are usually sweeter and look more appealing to the eye. In addition, I also use the weight of the fruit when choosing it. For instance, when choosing green peppers, I like to see how heavy they are as I like to buy the ones that have the least amount of seeds. 

           Becoming a future early childhood educator, this concept of mass and volume can be applied to my teaching in various ways. Firstly, since measurement is a fundamental skill in the curriculum, children are expected to learn about various concepts such as mass and volume. By using the arts and asking children to draw what something heavy or light might look like, children will be able to learn these fundamental concepts. 

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6^th Ed.).

            Belmont, CA: Delmar.