Mirroring with Living Lines
by Floris Books • 4 July 2024 • Crafts & Activities, Extract, Non Fiction, Steiner-Waldorf Education • 0 Comments
Drawing is an incredible form of expression that teaches children to harness their creativity and imagination.
Living Lines by Henrik Thaulow, is a practical and inspiring book for Steiner-Waldorf teachers, offering new ways to teach form drawing. This book includes over 100 form drawing exercises for Classes 2-5, as well as insights from Rudolf Steiner himself on the importance of this creative activity.
To get you started, read the extract from Living Lines below for an exercise in mirroring. Mirroring allows children to practise a particular type of problem-solving, it can take many different directions and involve varying degrees of difficulty. In these exercises children can practise and increase their understanding of symmetry, and observe its presence in nature and technology.
Mirroring
Draw a vertical line, which will act as a mirror. Next, draw a form on the left followed by its reflection on the right, or vice versa for left-handed pupils. You can introduce mirroring using the examples included here.
After a while, encourage pupils to make their own suggestions, either independently, in pairs or in groups of three, which will allow them to set tasks for each other to copy.
This can be done outside in sand, mud or snow. Soft rope is another useful way to discover and play with forms and mirroring.
Mirroring can involve drawing numerous forms outside of one another. The forms may overlap one another if the central line is omitted. Various patterns may emerge as a result of the symmetries used, which can grow to cover a whole sheet of paper.
Find more form drawing exercises in Living Lines and join our dedicated Waldorf Education mailing list here.
