Are our kindergarten robbing our children of creativity?

As an educator and an artist seeing posters like this in a KINDERGARTEN room breaks my heart ... this was shared by a parent in a group on Facebook with a parent questioning her child's kindergarten teachers use of this chart and sending home coloring and art work with 'star' ratings on it based on following these 'rules'.

 In my opinion when we draw/colour/paint we follow our heart and do what we are feeling there is no right or wrong with art ... it is not something that should be pass or fail or 'graded' with stars unless one is older and taking a professional 'art class' and has already developed a strong sense of artistic expression and is looking to take a class that critics and takes their art to next level professionalism!

Staying “in the lines” is developmental skill and children will be motivated to do that and increase their fine motor skills on their own with practice there is no need for “shaming” they by awarding star points to their efforts! There if you've ever watch a sun rise or set there is not 'right' color for the sun it contains ALL the color spectrum's!

Sometimes I am feeling angry and I just want to scribble or throw my paint around when doing art and that’s OK it’s still art and self expression!

All preschool and primary school teachers should be required to read this story during their teaching practicum before being thrust into practice and REMEMBER what it means to explore ones creativity in mediums like colouring and drawing and painting! 

While I totally get that in certain circumstances you need to be able to have your pupils show understanding of 'true' when it comes to representational depiction or retelling of a story it is not developmentally appropriate curriculum to expect all children do this and 'grade' them with stars accordingly in KINDERGARTEN - what a way to turn children off learning as well as artistic expression when we use ART mediums to test this. 

It is one thing to have a 'goal' for children to be able to color within the lines, to show their understanding of colors and to follow directions when creating HOWEVER it is another to 'test' them on it or publicly make charts that shame them if they cannot yet do it.

As educators I also get that FAR TOO OFTEN our administration sets out expectations for us that are not 'realistic' however I guess I am one of those educators who would do my damnedest to 'educate the admin on developmentally appropriate practice' verses embracing what I know to potentially do more damage than benefit to children in my charge ... so sure I am going to encourage children to practice fine motor skills so they can master staying in the lines and sure I want them demonstrating understanding retelling of popular stories but there are BETTER ways that THIS style chart! 

When we KNOW better we should DO better ... it is time for educators to look past the way we 'used' to do things like these behaviour reward charts and focus on teaching to the child, meeting them were they are at and inspiring them to be life long learners who want to build on their skills and knowledge because it fills their internal cup not for some 'external reward or fear of punishment' system! I challenge us all when we come across these 'old school' practices to question and dig deeper about is there a 'better' way to seek the outcomes we need to meet admins demands while still keeping children's love of learning and creative expression alive? 

I love this second imagery someone shared in response to this first one  in the comments - kudos to the original teacher hopefully more will follow suit! Be the change in education we want to see!

 

Be inspired

Margaret

Live well, Laugh often, Love Much

Be Totallyawake4-life  

Elf on the Sehfl ~ A Gift of Art

Being active out and about in the community is a large part of our program ~ it offers the children a chance to learn about new things in a meaningful manner that might not have come up if we remained in the home setting day in and day out. 

We are blessed here that we have access to all sorts of community run programs that help the children connect with the comunity. Our Ontario Early Years programs are spread out all over the London area, plus we have programs that connect kids with Seniors, we have the London Children's Museums and a short drive away the amazing Kitchener Children's Museum as well, when we want to get active we have Adventures on Wonderland and Kidscape and our local Library offers amazing options and than there are our local farms that offer seasonal fun ... we love the Great Lakes Farm and the Greenview Aviaries  and of course our Storybook Gardens is an awesome treat!

So Ian brought us an invitation this week to create a work of art to share with one of our favorite playgroups ~ so while we made our art we need to decide who to deliver it too once we are sure that we are all healthy!

We opted for an encore of a favorite ~ wine work prints with a 'masking' trick on a little canvas ... so I placed a paper heart with removable adhesive in the middle of the canvas and they painted as they desired as a group effort to help cover the whole thing and than when they were done I removed the heart ~ when we decide who we want to give it to than we can write in the heart the name of the organization for them. 

 

A Gift of Art from the Heart using the Masking Technique

A Gift of Art from the Heart!

Ian the Elf ~ Giving the Gift of Art poem

Santa heard you like to visit community centre's where people come for fun,

Where there are awesome group leaders

giving of them selves to everyone!

So his challenge today,

should you choose to accept,

Is to make them a lovely work of art

He knows you can do it, you are all very adept!

Than wrap it up in some Christmas paper

and tie it with a bow

and leave it at a community group

 As a wonderful gift of art for them to show!

As always you are more than welcome to leave me a comment and share what your Elf has been up to in your home or if you do not do the Elf what you've been up to enjoying this time of year! 

Have an amazing day!

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Be Totallyawake4-life

10 Kids Christmas Keepsakes

 

10+ Christmas Keepsake Ideas

It is that time of year when we start to think about what to make with the kiddies as 'offerings' to their loved ones for the holiday season ... here in the daycare because of their young age we have the tradition of making hand-print or foot-print related keepsakes and than they can carry on and explore the process of 'finger-painting' once after I have captured a 'keepsake' hand-print because in the early years creating is more about the process than capturing a keepsake ... unlike traditional 'creative art' these are totally all for the joy of later 'giving' a gift that is both from the adult helping to make them and the child and something that will be hopefully be treasured for years to come as it captures their little hand or footprint during the festive season! 

Here are some of our past treasures we've made to share

Ornament ideas of the Tree 

Shaker Glittler Globe with a photo

This ornmanet was made using now retired treat cups from Stampin' Up! You can check out a tutorial on how to do t hem here this one is definitely a craft idea that is more 'adult' made!

Photo Cube ornament

 The Photo Cube ornament was made using the Stampin' Up Box maker ~ the kids than sponged and stamped their box and helped to punch out photos to adore the sides. We hid some bells inside so it makes noise when it moves on the tree.

Handprint Santa's on a Glass Ornament ~ using acrylic paints

Foot Print or Hand-print penquin 

Depending on the age of your crew a 'foot' might not fit on the ornament ~ to make a handprint paint the hand and place with fingers CLOSED and pointing down to make penguin fit on the Ornament, This ornament was painted white inside with glitter added to the paint ~ here is link to a quick tutorial on how to paint the inside of ornaments

Snowman 'finger print' face with glitter in a glass ornament

This one the kids and I spray the inside of the ornament with hairspray and than added glitter mica flakes with a funnel into the ornament and shook it around ~ it sticks to the hairspray but leaves the ornament translucent to catch the lights off the glitter. Use finger prints to make the snowman's face!

Reindeer Hand-print Ornament

Similar glittering of the ornament inside as done above we than followed by painting with a hand fingers wide open when placing on the globe to make a neck out of the thumb and 4 legs from the fingers and then with some adult help the addition of glitter antlers and a red finger print nose and google eyes glued on for a Rudolph inspired ornament!

Hand-print Snowman Family on a glass ornament

This is another one I think would look great with the 'mica glitter' added to the inside of the ornament for a nice little POP! Depending on the age of your crew they can either paint their own 'snowman faces' using toothpicks and fine brushes or this is the part where the adult can 'help' transform the hand into the keepsake snowman!

Home Decor Keepsakes

Cookies for Santa plates 

We just used acrylic paints to make our plates and both of these ideas can be done on a 'ornament' as well if the plate is too cumbersome a keepsake. 

If you use acrylic paints on the cookie plates please just make sure that the receiver of these gifts realizes they are 'keepsakes' and should not really be 'eaten off of'. The paint is not food grade as is not really dishwasher safe. The plate should really not get dirty enough to need more than a light 'dusting' with a damp cloth each season! These treasures can last for years and years but the paint will chip off if not cared for gently. 

Christmas Angel Footprint Plate decor

You can also buy special paint that can be baked in the oven and sealed to allow it to have more staying power and be used in the dishwasher ~ however I tried this one year and our plates cracked in the oven which was disappointing so we returned to the 'fragile keepsake' that you do not really EAT off of and just keep as a home decor piece! 

 

Mistletoes

These  can be painted on either a canva or a plate and than hung on the wall or stand free with the aid of a plate holder stand ... if your crew has the attention span they can also be adorned with a row of 'Christmas lights' around the edge of the canvas using different coloured 'finger prints' that are then joined together with a black marker to form 'lights' or just a fancy border of dots or what not or add glitter, ribbon bow, bells and more to make then fun!

So these are just a few of our favorites  ~ what is YOUR favorite Christmas keepsake you've done with your family?

Have an amazing day

Margaret
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
Totallyawake4-life

What is ART? Process VS Product

 

 

Stumbled across the following article and cannot help but shake my head at the lack of understanding of how to instill a love for 'creative experssion' in children and since I can imagine that thinking like this is not 'new' this is likely why Picasso likely was quoted stating the following ...

In case it wont open it basically goes on to say "We all know kids can be boundlessly creative. Sit them down with a piece of paper and some crayons, and you never know what the result might be.

But here's the problem: sometimes, you really don't know what the result is supposed to be. And let's face it, even the most eager junior Picasso or Emily Carr can occasionally lack follow through.

Crash Gallery is here to help.

From now until the premiere of the show (ahem: next Friday, October 2 at 8:30 p.m.), some of the artists from the show are offering their services to help put some finishing touches on your kid's (or kids') art*! 

 

Just tweet or Instagram a photo with the ‪#‎FinishMyKidsArt‬ hashtag, and they'll take a crack. After all: completing unusual art challenges against a clock is what Crash Gallery is all about."

 

As an early childhood educator I find it very disheartening that so called professional ARTISTS would even be suggesting FINISHING a child's work FOR THEM let along as part of some 'contest'? To imply that if their work is not 'recognizable' to the adult eye as being something makes it unworthy of being seen as 'finished' art. Or that the child's self expression in that moment lacks follow through because all they wanted to do was a few brush strokes and than felt their work was 'complete'? 

 

In my experience it is ADULT THINKING such as this that truly ROBS children of their artistic inclinations and leads to those of us who in adulthood claim 'oh I am not creative' or 'oh I cannot do art I suck at that' ... where nothing can be further from the truth cause we can ALL create art if we just let our soul speak through the medium we are trying and do not put up mental road blocks! 

 

Think of all those things you currently love to do can you imagine if someone tried to walk up and complete YOUR work on you without even being ASKED for help, feedback or advice on said work but they stepped in and said 'here let me make that better for you'?

 

 How would that make you feel? 

 

Motivated to try harder or crushed of spirit like 'why bother someone else will just need to fix my work so might as well not try' or angry and wanting to poke their eyeball out with the paintbrush .... having had art teachers like this throughout my career I can say I have felt ALL of those things at one time or another! 

Am I alone here in thinking this initiative was way off base and not something that a 'professional artist' should be endorsing? 

 

Maybe my thoughts on art and what art is and how art in childhood and art in adulthood differs? 

 

I get that as you grow into adulthood there are 'lessons' one can enroll in on how to improve technique and so forth to improve your 'artistic flare' however in childhood it should be solely about the PROCESS of getting to know a medium and expressing oneself with it how to use the materials with 'respect' so as not to damage the materials and how to care for the  brushes, pencils, clay and other mediums properly so that they will do what you want them to. However other than those basic 'lessons\ until the child is old enough to start ASKING for help to perfect a technique or how to get a certain brush stroke and so forth IMO we should not be interfering in their process let alone trying to FIX their work?

 

My job is to inspire them to notice the in-depth color, textures and beauty in the world around them and to, if desired, make representations of things in their world via art mediums in an effort to help me  learn now THEY see the world. Doing art with children is not meant as a medium for me to teach them how to see the world! f they want to have a purple cow or green clouds or 8 legs on the bird than that is all good! 

 

What do you think? Is children's art 'unfinished' as the article linked implies? Is it in need of adult support to complete it or have the artists lost focus of the joy of the PROCESS of engaging in art with their focus on the product of what someone ELSE considers art?

Would love to hear your opinions on this?

Have an amazing day!

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much

Totallyawake4-life