Encouraging Social Distancing

It’s hard not to think about the pandemic when it is constantly showing up in our newsfeeds. I decided to steer a little bit away from my anti-bullying culture and I wanted to think about how this pandemic was affecting our lives. A friend of mine showed me this link of elementary school students in China wearing hats that were inspired by ancient courtier headwear. These hats were an inventive way to encourage students to keep their distance from their peers. Ironically, the functionality of the ancient headwear was thought to have been made to prevent the courtiers from whispering and chit-chatting. I thought this idea was a great, fun way to encourage students to keep their distance.

Image from: AsiaWire and Design Boom

Image from: Design Boom, Wikimedia

Luckily, I got my husband and Oscar to model my social distancing hat for me! The crown of the hat represents the world and how this virus is indeed a global crisis. Originally, I was going to make the hat decorated as an homage to the healthcare workers globally. Thinking back now, I wish I followed through with my original idea. The wing were to represent the heroic frontline workers. The wings are each 3 feet long. If two people both wore these hats, that would end up matching the 6 foot minimum for social distancing. The hat is made of cardboard, construction paper, tissue paper, and acrylic paint. I used the construction paper and tissue paper to collage my globe. For the sake of my 3D grad class assignment, I used cardboard only for the whole structure of the hat. If I were to use this with students, I would suggest foam board or those really long balloons used for balloon animals because I found that my cardboard wings were too heavy to wear on the head.