Botero Inspired Escultura De La Primavera {Activity}

On el 19 de abril, Colombian artist, Fernando Botero cumple 80 años. I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to incorporate a little bit of cultura into one of our almost daily activities–playing with plastilina.   Inspired by Botero’s esculturas, we set out to make our own escultura from plastilina and spring chécheres.

First we talked briefly about Botero.  If Sofía were growing up in Colombia, by now she would know who Botero was because she would be surrounded by his works of art and hear his name everywhere.  So we looked at some of Botero’s kid-friendly esculturas.  Some of them include; El Gato, El Pájaro, El Caballo, Ballerina, and Hombre a Caballo.  (You can do a google image search to see them yourself.)

Next we made our own plastilina; Plastilina Primavera to be more specific.  You don’t have to use plastilina casera, but I like to make seasonal plastilina with an aroma that ties in with our current season.  Since we are in spring, we used an algodón dulce flavoring to not only give our plastilina a deli aroma, but a beautiful aqua pastel color as well.    For a detailed explanation of how to make plastilina casera, click here. Making plastilina casera is rather simple and everyone in your familia can participate in the process.  My Sous Chef assisted.

Still keeping with our Primavera theme, I gathered some random Primavera chécheres for Sofía to use in her escultura. (I purchased most of them at Michael’s and used their online coupon so our grand total was no more than 4 dolares!) I really like to make esculturas from natural treasures we find on outside excursions like leaves, pinecones, sticks and flowers, but for Primavera I wanted to switch things up a bit.

Even though Sofía has made esculturas in the past, before starting our actual project, I showed her a small model of what she would be doing before she started. (Modeling is muy importante!)

Next, I created a base for the escultura out of a small piece of foam board.  Really, you can use any type of strong cartón or plate–just something sturdy to hold your escultura. Sofía positioned her plastilina where she wanted it on her base.

As you can see, all of Sofía’s supplies were on hand and she was able to pick and choose what would go into her escultura.

I really gave her no direction; I let Sofía be the jefe of her own escultura.

Our final project, Escultura De La Primavera, is an array of delight for the senses.  The molinillos spin, the cuentas shine and the aroma of algodón dulce fills the air!

¡Feliz Cumpleaños Maestro Botero!