Creatures of Colombia - Magic City Art Connection

:::Imagine That Parades:::
Creatures of Colombia
Students will create individual Headdresses based on Folkloric Creatures of Colombia, South
America. Then during Imagination Festival your class will have a scheduled time to participate in
the Creatures of Colombia Parade, so that the whole Festival can enjoy their unique creations and
enthusiasm.
OBJECTIVE:
Myths and Legends of Colombia aims to show the importance of the Colombian oral tradition and
how this tradition has preserved languages, beliefs, customs and culture. The Colombian folklore
has strong influences from Spanish culture, with elements of African and Native American cultures. Barranquilla's Carnival is Colombia's most important folklore celebration, and is the biggest
carnival in the world where people costumed as many of the legendary creatures parade the city.
This year, Imagine That Parade will encourage the children to dive into a new and interesting culture by making a headdress based on Creatures in Colombian legends, detailed with their own
personal style and interpretation of the stories. Colombia is known for its bright, lively colors,
which is great element to bring into the headdresses.
STUDENTS WILL:

Be exposed to traditional myths and legends about Colombian Creatures.

Be challenged to create their own interpretation of the creatures inspired by the old tales.

Create a headdress using their original thinking, problem solving, materials and methods.

Participate in the Imagine That Parade.
TEACHERS WILL:
 Read aloud short stories that include mythical Columbian creatures – Several stories are on
page 2:: also feel free to research any additional stories.
 Talk about the tradition of storytelling in Colombian culture and its importance. In addition to
folk tales, children can look at pictures of the folkloric characters to inspire ideas!

Schedule a time for the children to design and create their headdress.
2014 IMAGINATION FESTIVALCLASSROOM PROJECT:
Creatures of Colombia
BASE STRUCTURES; Students can use anything from construction paper bases to old hats to
create a sturdy structure to add additional material to.
Construction paper/ fabric base:: Details & instructions on page 3
Plastic hat base:: Details & instructions on page 3
MATERIALS: Cardboard, fabric, felt, yarn, string, paint, markers, glue, scissors,
paper, newspaper, eaves, bark, sticks, dried flowers, fabric flowers, glue, various
kinds of ribbon, feathers, glitter, sequins, fake fur, oil pastels, sand, foil, card stock,
pebbles, tissue paper, crayons, markers, buttons, fringe, tassels, elastic, bubble wrap,
styrofoam, and anything thing else you can think of.
Some resources to consult:
Some Traditional Colombian Folklore
Hombre Caiman, or Alligatorman, that has both human and alligator characteristics. He
was a fisherman converted by the spirit of the Magdalena River into an alligator that
returns once a year to hunt.
The evil chicken ("pollo maligno") is an evil spirit of the forest in the form of a bird that
haunts the hunters, attracting them to the deepest forest in order to devour them.
La Tunda is a shape shifting monster that pretends to be your loved-ones, lures you into a
forest and keeps them there as company.
The Big Hat. He is well known for his black poncho, gargantuan hat and for traveling on
his black mule with his two big black dogs restrained by thick heavy chains. He always
arrives at night in a gallop. As the story goes, he makes noisy appearances, galloping
and whistling. Amidst his whistling and laughing, he would proclaim his menacing
phrase: “If I manage to reach you, I’ll put this hat on you!” This myth is a playful one.
The Riviel
The Riviel is a monster in the pacific region. The Riviel is an “Endriago”, a combination
between man, a snake of several heads and a dragon. The people from town say that
the monster scares fishermen at night .The riviel always asks his victims “how is the
fishing”? Then, when the fisherman answers, the creature jumps on the boat to capture
him. This mythical story shows how fishermen live, their culture, and how mysticism is
intertwined in their daily practices. All these stories are passed from fathers to sons,
through generations, and makes their culture more rich.
THE PROJECT
Try listening to Colombian music during the project.
The link provided https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue9gaeCLk0I will take you to some
samples of Colombian music, which will probably be used during the parade.
Step 1: To get the kids started, give everyone a piece of white paper. After reading some of
the old folk tales, ask the kids to brainstorm and draw their interpretation of the creatures.
From there they will transform the drawing of their unique creatures into ideas for designing their own headdresses. It may be helpful to show the students several of the provided
pictures so they will know the variety that is available to them in the creation of their
headdresses.
Step 2: The students will need to choose what material they want to use. The material you
have available will dictate the direction of the headdresses. ( Materials suggestions are
provided above). We are requesting that the headdress have 3-dimentional detail and
decorations extending past the surface of the object, as illustrated in the pictures included.
Step 3: Transfer the design from the paper to the headdress.
Suggested methods:::
#1 Construction paper/fabric base:: cut a strip of construction paper or fabric that is
roughly 3 inches wide and is long enough to fit snug and secure about each child's head
(measure the students head for exact paper length). From here add all detail and embellishments to the construction paper/fabric base.
#2 Hat base:: If kids have any sort of ball cap, gallon milk jug, small box or other headpiece
items at home this would be a great base to glue, paint and tape various material to. This
would provide a very sturdy structure for the foundation of the headdress.
#3 There are a several other ways to great a headdress:: Do not feel limited to the listed
suggestions!
Images of Folklore Characters
Images from Colombian Parades
+ headdress
Examples of many different types of
headdress