The Moon Bounce - Listening to Intentions

This story is a favorite of mine because of the surprise of simplicity. The young artist came to class and announced she would like to make a moon bounce. Most of the kids were working at a center with recycled objects so my mind immediately began imagining ways to construct a box and add textiles to give it some softness and bounce. As I moved to that part of the room talking about considering what materials would be best for a moon bounce, the answer came with a definitive, "I want to make it out of clay."

Now I felt a bit nervous, not sure I had a great plan in mind for how to make a moon bounce out of clay. Hoping to be helpful, I suggested she draw what she had in mind before getting started. The drawing is on the right - you can see she has already begun to recreate it with clay.

Here, she experiments with getting the newly formed moon bounce (modeled on a princess castle moon bounce) to stand up.

Smoothing down a piece in the back for support helps to solidify the structure.

Finally, a carefully constructed figure is placed inside the doorway.

Attached by the arms, the figures feet do not touch the base of the doorway - because she's jumping!