Implementation of ‘Clothes Long Ago and Now’ (SOI-MT-96)

The students with whom I have implemented this Learning Scenario are 7-8 years old. The implementation of ‘Clothes Long Ago and Now’ was adapted from the learning scenario created by Anna Maria Gauci and the aim was to raise awareness about clothes that were worn in the past in contrast to today’s more evolved type of clothes. The activity was designed in a way that students would appreciate the costumes and culture of the past and understand that these change by time.

Work Explanation

I explained the task to the students with emphasis on the Art section and aimed to simplify this learning scenario so that students found it easier when they implemented it. I started by showing them some photos from Europeana of people working in old clothes. They observed these resources and commented on each other’s observations. This lead me to the explanation that they had to use their imagination to design an outfit.

Designing a Creative Outfit

I invited the students to pretend that they were invited to a special occasion and that they had to design their own unique outfit using the template provided. The students were motivated. Even more when they were told that these designs will then be given to a dressmaker to sew an identical outfit. I told them that their outfits could be inspired by costumes of the past!

Work Development

Students traced around the body templates prepared for them. Girls were invited to trace around the stencil of a woman, while boys had a stencil of a man.

The children designed and created their outfit, using coloured pieces of paper and the collage technique. I encouraged them to be original and to use a combination of colours. They were provided with different coloured pieces of paper and they had to dress up the traced figure in a modern creative costume which could also be inspired by costumes of the past.

By the end of the lesson, the students created and designed an original outfit for themselves on the body outline template provided by using the collage technique.

Did you find this story of implementation interesting? Why don’t you read about the related learning scenario?

Clothes Long Ago and Now by Anna Maria Gauci

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The featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana Collections and belongs to the public domain.