Tuesday 10th April 2012
You have it all at home for quick-'n-easy Spider Webs
The boys just love rolling these webs, and what's great is that they can get on with it themselves. "The joy is in the process" applies well to these webs! What they do with the result is inconsequential (although in my home they are stuck onto bedroom ceilings), the fun truly is in the making.
Even better, is that everything you need, you have at home:
- Flat box (beer tray)
- A4 paper (black sugar paper is great)
- White paint (if you have no paint, a little corn-flour mixed with water works well too)
- A marble (if your kids are marble collectors, make sure it's a "junkie")
- Small piece of coloured paper (Or white paper coloured-in)
- Paper glue
Dip marble is gooey paint . . .
Shake, rattle 'n roll the box . . .
Draw a spider, stick/draw eyes, cut it out and stick it on the web . . .
Fun in a box!
Tuesday 10 April 2012
Flying Aliens
The boys value art that is "useful" (I use the word rather loosely) and can be played with afterwards. Hanging it on the fridge or the wall is so last season!
What we used:
- Styrofoam balls
- Ear-buds (cut into halves)
- Skewer sticks (to hold balls while painting)
- String
- Acrylic Paint
- Glitter
- Craft eyes
After snipping the ear-buds to various lengths (with safety scissors of course) chubby little fingers jammed, poked and prodded them into the Styrofoam balls - note: cutting is FUN, and we ended the day with enough halved ear-buds to warrant coming up with another arty use for them, any ideas?
Then the messy fun begins!
I only put out the primary colours, plus black and white to add learning and uniqueness to their choices of paint, and what fun they had "inventing" their colours!
My ears soaked up their voices as they created fantastical stories about these little monster creations, ranging from fallen stars to spiders hidden in space rockets!
Once painted and before they dried we sprinkled them with glitter, just for fun.
Next we, pulled out the skewer stick, threaded in the string, stuck on the eyes and spooks-your-uncle!
These guys now hang in the doorways of their bedrooms . . . the gift that keeps giving giggles, because of course its still hilarious when our heads are pounced on by monsters as we enter their rooms!
Tuesday 13th March 2012
Should we help?
When art & craft ideas "poof" into the right hemisphere of my grey matter, wondrous masterpieces fit for museums and galleries reel around and around, and then, thankfully, settle into practical and achievable little projects that I can convey to the kids. With the seed planted in their minds, I see the same process unfolding. My point is that the idea in my head is not the picture in their heads, and when we begin to create I need to respect their individuality of expression. And that means: holding back on the help!
Once we’re ready, steady, go, we chat about why we have chosen the materials that we have . . . . and they're off! Whizzing around the house or garden finding “better stuff!" Urrgh, all my careful preparation down the drain.
Yip, the picture they have is different from mine.
The creativity flows and the fun begins, and often I want to jump in, take over and make it “perfect” but . . .
important to me, is that the process of kids’ art, as I posted yesterday, should be about them believing that they can create something that they will be proud of. It’s about self-confidence and expression. When we offer too much help, it sends the signal that we don’t believe that they can do it, and if “mum doesn’t believe I can do it, then I probably can’t do it.” And so, as the parent, I have failed the process by trying to control the product. It should be about them exploring what they can master and knowing that it’s great simply because it’s theirs and because they had fun creating it all by themselves.
As I see it, my role is to make practical suggestions, lend a pair of fingers when asked and do the tricky bits that may involve stabbing holes through card or super-gluing fingers to paper!
Something my 5 year old said to me not so long ago summed it up very succinctly, “God must have had so much fun when he made everything and he must have been very proud when he was finished.”
And, as I’ve seen in their eyes, when a child draws something like this . . .
When we take-over and “help” them to draw this . . .
. . . well, that’s exactly what they see . . . and the magic of creation has been lost.
Sunday 11th March 2012
Just do it . . . get started!
The idea of sitting down to share art with your kids can be an intimidating one, for so many reasons (or excuses), like:- I'm really not creative
- We don't have the "stuff" to create art
- I don't know where to start
In this post, I’m going to share my thoughts on just how creative one needs to be, or not to be.
I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I do draw a stick figure better than my 7 yr old. So? In the eyes of a child, if you can do it better than they can and you know more than they do, then you're an expert (until they're teenagers of course). Ultimately, our role is to guide them through their creation, with lots of "ooh's", "aah's" and "wow's".
The joy is in the sharing of the process, not necessarily the end product. I have, many times, "guided" kids through the process of their creation and arrived at a messy muddle of "what is that?"
Guess what? We had fun anyway! What could be more exhilarating for a child-at-art, than seeing their "expert" looking really silly! The lessons we have learnt and conversations we have had over these "huh?" creations, have been as valuable (if not more so) than our masterpieces.
Through these opportunities, I have been able teach my children, from a very young age, how to behave when you don't achieve the outcome that you hoped for. I promise that when faced with one of our artistic "failures" I don't burst into tears, throw paintbrushes and stamp away in a huff. I try not to laugh hysterically, but I can't promise that I've never done that!
Instead? We try to figure out, looking at our creation with heads tilted at every possible angle, if there is something else that it resembles and could perhaps be. Talk about creative thinking and imagination! We also have wonderful conversations about what we did wrong, what part didn't work and what we could have done differently. It's amazing how animated the little "apprentices” become when they're suggesting improvements to their expert! Sometimes we decide to salvage what we can, and start over, attempting to recreate the original idea or make something else altogether.
And what about when we're not following a specific plan or don't have a specific end goal in mind? Well, that's when I watch their inner thoughts, dreams and interests come to life. The room becomes quieter as they slip into the depths of their creativity, and work on turning an idea into something tangible. My job is to mindlessly doodle, because obviously their creations need to be waaaay cooler than mine! Tip: never, under any circumstance, ask: "What is that?" Maybe try: "So what made you think of making that?" and see where it takes the conversation.
The over-riding theme of this post is simple: Kids art is not about "artistic produce". For me, it's always been about a process that offers an opportunity for creative thinking, problem solving and engaged conversation with my children. It’s also a gentle way of building self confidence and developing the skill of taking pride in their efforts.
All of course, disguised in a whole lot of fun!
So, you're not Picasso . . .
. . . but to your child you're a well of ideas and a pair of helping hands.
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