e-mail
Crayons, markers, glue, glitter are all things I try and stay away from. I am a mom who does not like arts and crafts I admit it. I do, however, appreciate art and want my kids to learn by making things and playing with texture, colors and their imaginations. On top of my refrigerator I have all the glue, crayons, markers, tape and scissors my kids need to have some artsy fun. My two home-grown kids have enjoyed making things, drawing pictures and in general making a mess since they could hold a crayon.
When we brought Mita and Enu home I noticed that they did not just set down and draw pictures. They looked to see what Meg was doing and tried to copy it perfectly. This of course drove Meg up a wall (all oldest children can relate to this I’m sure) and I would encourage them to draw whatever they wanted, to use their imaginations. This was very difficult for them. More than difficult, it was frustrating. They had never been encouraged to use imagination to create things, they had always had to copy things.
I remembered back to my time in Peru when I would work with kids. They would copy word for word letters to their sponsors, they were not encouraged to “free” write anything. Every letter had to be perfect and the same as the sample letter on the board. Working with the adults I noticed they did not know the freedom of “abstract thought” or “throwing around ideas”. One time I drew a picture of a thermometer on the board to talk about taking temperatures and they concentrated so hard on copying the picture they could not concentrate on the instruction.
Mita and Enu’s school notebooks showed pretty much the same style of learning. They would copy paragraphs out of books for science word for word and have no idea what they words meant. In the U.S. we tend to value creativity, arts and free thought. Not all of our Ethiopian kids have been encouraged this way.
So how can we encourage our kids’ imagination? Does it even matter?
Encouragement comes easily. Paper, crayons and scissors can be bought for a few bucks. Cover your table with an old table cloth or place-mats and then sit down and draw something. If your child starts to copy you, that is okay! Trace your hand and then their hand and note the differences in size. Draw a self-portrait (stick-figures okay!)and then have them draw a picture of themselves. You can both draw a picture of the same thing and say how they are both different and wonderful.
Some kids do well with coloring books and some don’t. If coloring books make your child nervous because they cannot stay in the lines or don’t have the same colors as the cover, I would put them away for awhile. Remember there is a good chance that they feel using another color may be wrong.
Creativity with art can really help kids learn to think abstractly, not so concrete and literal which is good for our kids who are learning a new language. Expressions like, “It’s raining cats and dogs.” will be more easily understood if they are learning to think out of the box. Young children tend to think concretely anyway, so helping them relax and be creative is a stress-reliever.
Art therapy is often used with children. One suggestion our therapist had was to have the girls draw pictures of their feelings or fears. If your child’s artwork scares you, try not to react harshly to it and encourage them to continue drawing. Kid’s talk to us in many ways and forms and they may be able to draw you a fear easier than tell it to you.
It really didn’t take long for the girls to be able to get creative, they just needed to know it was okay to try something new. While they still like to copy Meg, they do add some of their own flare as well.
A great way to get some art going this summer is to have your kids enter the Ethiopian Orphan Relief Art Contest 2009. Click on over to get more details. This contest is not affiliated with Adoptionblogs.com or myself, but I will be having my girls submit an entry if they wish. It will be a good conversation starter.
AdoptionBlogs is looking for a few good writers for multiple topics. Send an email to editor@adoptionblogs.com that includes the topics you’d like to write about and a bit about your writing experience.
