Objective: Make your own seal script stamp and use it to "sign" a decorated postcard.
FOR THE SEAL STAMP
Pencil
Seal script practice sheet
1-inch-square piece of craft foam or thick cardboard
An old building block or Lego brick
Glue
FOR THE POSTCARD
Cardstock cut into 4 x 6-inch postcards
Drawing and coloring implements
Pen or a pencil
Inkpad
Address of someone you’d like to connect with
Postage stamp
First, practice writing seal script characters using the provided practice sheet. After finishing the sheet, look over the characters and note: Do some of the characters resemble the objects or ideas they represent? Which ones? How?
Choose a favorite character from the practice sheet to create your own seal. It could be:
• a character you think represents you,
• a character you find visually pleasing,
• or a character that brings up a good memory.
For example, our image gallery shows the character for “fire” etched into a foam square with a pencil. If you don’t have foam, you can use a piece of thick cardboard.
Note: If your chosen character isn’t symmetrical, you need to etch it backwards on the foam. That way, when you use it as a stamp, the character will read correctly.
Glue the foam square onto a small wooden block or a Lego brick. Now it’s ready to be used with the stamp pad.
A piece of blank cardstock can be decorated to become a postcard. Draw and color in a landscape, a portrait, or a design on this side of the card. Then use the stamp and inkpad to “sign” your artwork.
On the other side of the card, you can write a message to a friend or a loved one. Address the card and add the postage stamp (see activity pdf in sidebar for a sample postcard).
Mail your postcard to catch up with your friend or loved one!
Activity
If you were to design a bronze vessel for a friend who has done something important for you, what shape would you make it? How would you decorate it? Would you use designs like the ones on the bronze vessels in the museum? What would you inscribe on it?
Activity
In the spring of 2020, a herd of wild Asian elephants started migrating north from Southwest China. As of June 2021, the elephants have traveled 500 kilometers, navigating through rural areas and cityscapes toward an unknown destination. Scientists believe this unusual migration was spurred by deforestation, urbanization, and habitat loss.
Activity
Create your own paper lantern and retell “The Girl Who Used Her Wits.”
Activity
Activity
Make your own seal script stamp and use it to “sign” a decorated postcard.
Activity
Activity
The Chinese Zodiac is based on a twelve-year cycle and each year is linked to an animal. Find your birth year and color in your zodiac animal.
Background Information
Islam has been an important cultural force in much of Asia for more than five hundred years, and in some parts for more than a thousand. Today, far more Muslims live in other parts of Asia than in the Arab areas of Asia such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.
Background Information
As with art, literature, and philosophy, the Tang dynasty (618-906) nurtured a Golden Age of development and innovation in science and technology that culminated in the Song dynasty (960-1279). The expansive exchange of foreign goods and information during the Tang, together with the high value placed upon close observation and analysis that characterized the Song, set the stage for vigorous scientific innovations. Important advances were made in astronomy, agriculture, industry, medicine, and military technologies.
Lesson
Lesson: Students will 1) understand how Wong was viewed by her community as a rebel in her choice of career and in her artistic style; 2) practice using compare/contrast skills to identify the hallmarks of art from the Qing and Song dynasties, to understand how Wong’s work was initially judged; and 3) hone discussion skills through the use of Project Zero’s Artful Thinking Routines.
