“Wow, look at mine,” said one young student showing off the artwork to his friends. There were many “oohs” and “aahs” and smiles across every face as the young students saw how their crayon drawings became brightly colored digital art.
Each student also received a short letter from the high school students. “I really liked the colors you used and the shape of your robot,” wrote one high school student.
Some gave their digital art robots names like “Love,” “Lucy,” and “Bubba, “which sent waves of giggles through the kindergarten class. One by one, kindergarten students proudly shared their drawings and the digit creations as Burbridge read the letters to the class. They grinned with delight as they heard the words of praise from the high school students and saw how their pictures were recreated.
The project was a collaborative effort between Burbridge’s kindergarten class and Barb Maring’s high school digital art class. “I loved the idea of collaborating on a project with older students,” said Burbridge. “It’s fun to see how they interact and I think it’s good for my students to have this kind of experience.”
Her students are learning about shapes and colors, practicing their fine motor skills in drawing and writing, and using their creativity to draw and color their robots. There were round robots, square robots, and robots with lots of different shapes all put together. One had flames coming out of his feet as if he were being launched into space. Another was big, round, and green.
These creative images from the young students were then turned over to Maring’s high school class. “This is my beginner in Adobe Illustrator Vector Graphic program,” said Maring. “It’s a hard program to learn, so this is really good early practice for them. My students are reimagining the pictures from the kindergarten class, using their skills in digital art and bringing these drawings to a new life.”
Although the two classes weren't able to meet, Maring said it will be like a pen pal project of sorts with each drawing including a short message from her students.
High school senior Zoey Ring said she tried not to change the overall design too much but to make it brighter, bolder, and make their vision “sort of come to life.”
“I think it’s a nice way to give life to a kid’s imagination and they can see what we can do,” said sophomore Preston Stevens.
Junior Brooklyn Bowen said she liked the project. “It’s fun to do something without being told exactly how it should look or how it should be done.”
Senior Nolan Bowers agreed he liked the project. “I’ve always liked pen pal projects and that’s kind of what this is.”