When you see a child’s drawing what do you notice, say or ask?
Most times, as grown ups, we’ll label what we “think” the drawing / painting / sculpture / creation is that a child made. Or as children create, we will show them what whatever it is “should” look like. For example, take a star — we may show them. What would happen if we didn’t show them but see what kind of star they’d create based on their own observation and imagination? As opposed to getting a replica of the carbon copied four pointed star (as illustrated in the picture below) — we may just get something else more creative and out of the box way of seeing the world in which we live.
The following are tips for making with children.
Don’t name it — ask open ended questions. Ask children to tell you the story of their picture / creation and write it down as they tell you the story of it. Ask them to describe it. Think of who, what, when, where, why and how questions. This shows you value their masterpieces as you actively listen and take notes about their work.
Save their creations — save their work and bring it back out so they can add more detail to it or be inspired to make another part. Learn new terms like dip-tic, trip-tec etc. This helps children to work on a project over time and strengthens their attention to detail.
Display their work — at their eye level. If they want let them help you or even let them do it by themselves. This shows that you value their work without over empty praise such as always saying good job or it’s beautiful. The action of displaying their work whether on a shelf or on a wall says to children: “I value your work. You are a creator.”
What ways do you inspire and encourage children’s creativity?
“As an artist you don’t owe them an answer but as a leader, you do.” -Kanye West
Creating something —anything is an action of process and processing. A process of becoming and unbecoming again and again. Into the dark and out of it back into the light.
Putting something somewhere out there in the world doesn’t need an explanation just as your very life’s essence way of being doesn’t need one or permission to exist. Don’t ask permission, ask forgiveness. For some of use the mere art of living and being free is a revolutionary act of consciousness. In this act, it sets others free and on fire for something deeper than the surface. What you see is not necessarily what you get. When you’re zoning and in the zone it just comes to you this free fall form. Nothing else matters but seeing just how much of the universe is in you and how much you’re out there in the universe. Taking the bits and pieces and the parts and transforming it all back into a whole piece of art.
That not everyone will understand.
Using subtle Imagery or even words both big and small brings bits and pieces of a whole together again. No longer ash but spirit. You may not have spirit without ash. Water without dirt or sand. Ever taste a piece or particle of a grain of sand? The texture is gritty which is what our bone is made of. We all become brittle bone, rock and grains of sand. Fragments. Texture and color which is art. We are art.
Children are works of art. Therefore, we are all God’s works of art. Masterpieces. I’m finding myself more in God’s hands than I’ve ever been. The prayers of my Mother. No one else could take the credit of a mother’s prayers.
I remember the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep prayer. Each and every night. A prayer of peace, blessings and protection to all those we love. God is love. Found in a Tupac song. Found in a sip of water. Found in the whole. Found in the 1/2. Found in the bits and in the pieces. Fragments found in eternity put back together again. Found in Heaven. Even found in Hell. So choose wisely.
What were the little things you carried in your pockets before the world made you empty them? Mine literally were rocks and dandelions. I would marvel at a rock as I found it fascinating. I loved and still enjoy collecting rocks. Ultimately, it’s not about the things you buy, it’s about the experiences you have. The moments made into memories. It’s about the little things you care about. Perhaps it keeps you up at night or wakes you up really early in the morning. Perhaps it sits with you for awhile mid-afternoon while you have your tea. It calls out to you. It knows your name without ever having to say it.
When is the last time you noticed or discovered that little thing you care about? When you saw or realized it did you marvel and sit with it for awhile? Were you present in the moment with it? When is the last time you did something about it? No expectations. Not because you have to but because you want to. Not following steps walking into “adulthood” but into “yourself hood” When will you follow your calling? Your own footsteps, left foot, right foot one in front of the other? Not for money but for your soul. Those are the kinds of things that are worth carrying in your pocket. Noticing and fulfilling the little things that you care about are victories.
I remember a little thing. A student of mine wanted to take a worm back to the classroom. So, he put some dirt in his pocket. Then he put the earthworm in his pocket. He carefully sprinkled a bit more dirt on top of the worm in his pocket as well so the worm in his own words would have a home. Think of the care and careful consideration he took to look out for the worm as he fulfilled his mission of bringing it back into our classroom.
If I had interrupted this play and told him to empty his pockets and that a pocket is no place for an earthworm even to transport it then we would have missed out on all of the learning with earthworms, anatomy and how to care for them and how they care for our Earth creating nutrients for plants and other organisms. It started with one worm and turned into so much more.
A worm. A single worm created a moment which created a memory and is in the process of possibly creating an entomologist. We all have an inner child, an inner soul. Nurture it. Nurture the little thing you love and yearn for whether it’s an ant or the sky. You are drawn to it for a reason. When someone asks you why are you “fixated” or “stuck” on something. Ask them, why not? Keep your wonder and your fascination especially in a world that is “stuck” and “fixated” on being busy and moving onto something else before really getting to know and work with what it started with to begin with. Studying and observing earthworms doesn’t take a week or month. For example, Darwin studied earthworms for forty years.
What were the little things you carried in your pockets before the world made you empty them?
Four decades Darwin hung out and observed the worms. So take your time with your passion and purpose, on purpose. The little thing you care about. The little thing that keeps knocking on your brain and on your heart: your soul. It’s worth it. Nurture it, care for it and be there with it for awhile. Sit with it. Walk with it. Crawl with it. Do whatever it is you have to do to be with it for awhile. Keep it safe, give it a home. Put it in your pocket. Take a decade or two or three or four or even more with it. Slow down and move with it in a world that wants to move onto the next thing. It warms. It cools. It warms. It cools. Stay with it for awhile. Savor it like the last bite. In fact, save the best bite for last.
So what is it and what will you do with it?
Ps. Here is a book entitled Finding Me by Viola Davis that may encourage you to dig a little deeper than the earthworms.
A child said, “Look, she’s drawing on the table!” I noticed she was in fact drawing on the table. I also noticed she was not drawing on the table in a destructive way but she was drawing on the table in a figuring something out kind of way. She drew the colors of the rainbow on one side out of order and on the other in order.
I looked. I peered over. I knelt down and asked her why. She said, “I’m trying to figure out the pattern of the rainbow. The order of it.” I smiled. I said, “Artists do that. Some need to visually see it and play around with the color. Next time use scraps of paper to experiment with color. I handed her some paper and she started drawing and drawing lines and lines as she sorted out and ordered the colors of the rainbow line by line. All on her own initiative.
After she drew arches and created each part of the rainbow from red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
She smiled. She took out tape and hung up her rainbow.
The process was amazing. I was a fly on the wall for a moment.
Look at what happens when we simply don’t say “Don’t draw on the table!” Look what happens when we ask higher level thinking questions and wonder with children. Amazing work and “play” happens creatively, constructively coming from the child’s own being.
Beautiful. In the words of Langston Hughes “It’s beautiful and ugly too.” The process. When we give space, time and a lot of understanding — a lot of magic happens.
From the Playground 