Parshat Behaalotcha: Watermelons

It has been a couple of weeks because I have been involved in a few other artistic - non Parsha related - projects. I am happy to try to get back in the Parsha-groove for the final month of school.

I am particularly excited about this little project. Still-life painting of fruit is an ancient and classic artform. Maybe fruit makes a great subject for artists just because they are bright, colorful and come in a variety of shapes. Or, maybe, as this article suggests, there is deep symbolism found in painting fruit. I love this quote:

“With an apple I will astonish Paris.” Paul Cézanne, (1839-1906)

So, when I skimmed through the parsha this week, I paused at the famous complaint of the Children of Israel in the desert:

"Then the children of Israel once again began to cry, and they said, "Who will feed us meat? We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free of charge, the cucumbers, the watermelons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now, our bodies are dried out, for there is nothing at all; we have nothing but manna to look at."

What could be more relevant for little kids than cvetching about food?

There are so many important things to discuss in this episode. How could the people prefer to be enslaved than free? How is freedom harder than slavery? How do the people not appreciate the miracles that they have right in front of them? Why do they romantisize and distort the past? How is complaining contagious? How can we experience contentment and gratitude?

But, "tachlis," we did not discuss very much - we moved pretty quickly to the WATERMELONS! Kids in Israel LOVE watermelon, possibly even more than in America. And, possibly more than in America (?), watermelon is associated with summer and barbeques and vacation. As Mark Twain once proclaimed: "to taste a watermelon is to know what the angels eat."

It turns out that watermelons (certainly more than leeks, onions, and garlic!) also make a great art project for kids because the colors are simple and bold.

I felt further justified teaching watermelon-painting since both Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo have famous watermelon paintings (both which were their final paintings before they died - read the story here)

So, I knew that I wanted to do some kind of watermelon painting. There are a few great versions out there in pinterest world. The watermelon "smile" is a big favorite:

But, I chose to go a safe and easy route based on this ADORABLE image from a parenting blog:

This is a great painting project that requires only green, white, and red and gives the kids the chance to play around with blending and mixing. This was definitely one the kids' favorite projects from this year. They really loved how simple it was yet how attractive it came out. By the end, they were asking if next week we could do oranges :)! This might have been the first time that all 22 kids worked the whole time and completed the project in its entirety. They didn't even want me to hang them up on the bulletin board because they wanted to take them immediately home to show their parents.

And, of course, once their tables were clean, they got to eat some of the real thing!

Want to know more about watermelon? 5,000 secret history of the watermelon

SHABBAT SHALOM!