Talking Pictures for Children 

Talking Pictures is an online resource for children and their adults based on artwork from the Crawford Art Gallery Collection. We will share creative prompts for happy talk and play every Wednesday.

About the artwork

This artwork was created by an artist called Colin Middleton, who was born in Belfast in 1910. He was a Surrealist, which meant he liked to put unexpected things together to create fantastical, dream-like scenes in his paintings. Surrealism was a movement in art and literature that emerged in the early twentieth century. It was all about embracing the powers of our imagination, fantasies and dreams to produce sights that had never been seen before!

Look closely

Look closely at the painting. What do you think is inside all those boxes? Could it be more birds. The painting is called ‘Market Day’ so do you think the lady is going to the market to sell the boxes? What will she buy with the money she gets for the boxes?

Let’s sing!

You loved singing in last week’s Talking Pictures right? So let’s sing again. Here is a song for this week’s boxes theme. This song is by Malvina Reynolds and it is very catchy. You can find the song on Youtube and sing along with the words below.This lovely painting could inspire you to sing a love song to Cork! We’re going to sing a famous Cork song called ‘The Banks of My Own Lovely Lee’. Maybe you have learned this song in school or maybe your parents know it. Here is the first verse for you to sing and you could find the rest of the song online.

Little Boxes – Malvina Reynolds

Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes all the same
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same

And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same
And there's doctors and lawyers
And business executives
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same

Let’s Play Dots and Boxes Game

All you need to play this game is a pencil, paper and another person to play with! Start by making an empty grid of dots, then take turns drawing a single horizontal or vertical line between two dots. The player who draws the fourth line to make a complete box wins a point and writes their initial in the box to record it. When all the dots have been joined by lines to make boxes, the game is over and the players count up their scores. The winner is the person who has earned the most points.

Here's a demonstration to help you get started:

Activity Dice

Click here to download a printable PDF version of this activity dice.

Remember to ask a grown-up for help with cutting along the black lines and gluing or taping your dice!

Let’s make a cardboard box monster

Cardboard boxes are very fun to play with. With a little bit of drawing or even just a bit of imagination a cardboard box can become anything you want!

You could make…a spaceship, a boat, a fish tank, a robot, a castle, a dinosaur, a car.

Here is an example of a cardboard monster that you could make. Use some markers or crayons to draw on eyes and a mouth, horns and hair on an old cardboard box.

Look at the silly socks on the bird and the donkey in the painting above…Could you use silly socks as feet for your box monster.

You could add feathers or glitter or shiny wrappers from sweets, whatever you have at home. See what you can make! Have fun!

Answers to last week’s Cork Slang Quiz

We would love to hear your stories and artworks inspired by Talking Pictures! Share them with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using the #crawfordartgalleryhomelife.

Activities and illustrations by Hazel Hurley.

We would love to hear your stories and artworks inspired by Talking Pictures! Share them with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using the #crawfordartgalleryhomelife.

Please share:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter