One of my dreams this year was to start creating more with my kids. I have been pretty slack, they are so creative themselves, that I have left them to their own devices.
But Bean had started begging me daily to draw her something to colour in, and becoming super sulky when I suggested she try to draw something from her imagination, so I decided to start 'art classes' with the kids.
As you may know Bean is five, Bug is 3 and wee Beastie is 9 months (so she won't participate yet) so the 'art classes' had to appeal to both the bigger girls. And we all know three year olds have the attention span of a gold fish, so it had to be engaging for Bug as well as Bean.
For our very first lesson I stuck down some googley eyes on the page, sat them down and asked them to tell me who they thought the eyes belonged to.
The first set of eyes they both agreed was a bear, so I had them tell me how to draw a bear, and then they totally got into it, Bean creating a unicorn with a flower + blue monster, Bug a Rapunzel bear + a her parents + me two funny creatures.
A couple of things that I was super conscious of during the class were:
- My kids have amazing imaginations + I didn't want to influence that at all by suggesting they do something 'my way'
- It was ok to colour outside the lines, to have purple apples or flowers in the sky if they wanted to
- No one could comment on any of the creations in a critical or judgemental way. (Bean has a bad habit of saying to Bug that she should be neater in her colouring. "If only she took her time mama!".....)
- A house isn't four sides, a roof, two windows a door + a chimney (how I was taught to draw) it is what ever you say it is.
So that was our first class + it was so great, that even I am excited about another one.
By the way have you entered this months give away? It is soooo easy to enter! Quick, pop over now - it'll take you two minutes!
How wonderful and what fun. I look forward to seeing what you do next!
ReplyDeleteKaren x
Thats awesome Kirstin. I love their drawings, such beautiful imaginations. Please pass on my comments to them ;)
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderful to see kids creating and your blog is a great way to keep a record of what they do :)
ReplyDeleteLove this super cute!
ReplyDeleteI occasionally take time to create with my kids and also almost always incorporate some crafty activity during b-day parties, and or family activities.
As always love your work, thank you for sharing!!