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Posted: Wednesday 28 September 2011

Multi-coloured Elephants on parade!

Elmer 2On Wednesday the 21 September Kingarth Street became a sea of colour as the Primary One took part in a special Elmer parade, inspired by the story of Elmer the Patchwork Elephant a children's picture book by British author David McKee. 

Elmer Book CoverElmer’s story brings to life the themes and issues relating to the concept of diversity. Elmer discovers that when he tries to change his colourful appearance with grey paint in order to "blend in" with the other elephants, they no longer recognise him, or accept him as one of their own.  

It's only when it begins to rain that Elmer's "true colours" are revealed, much to the surprise and delight of his friends, who much preferred his multicoloured and fun loving persona.

The elephants reassure Elmer that they love him because of his differences, and not in spite of them, and they celebrate by painting themselves in multi-coloured paint, in recognition of Elmer's special and unique appearance, and his great personality. 

In their own celebration highlighting that everyone is different and special because they are unique the P1s made masks, coloured pictures of Elmer and decorated empty plastic milk cartons with tissue paper. The resulting colourful display can be seen in the gallery here.

Tags: Art & Design, English, P1, Primary

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