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Grown–up Talk It’s about the Process
What a delight when our little ones initiate a creative project. I remember when my first child flipped an ice cube tray upside down and inserted his crayons into the slots to make a birthday cake for his stuffed animals. I was delighted at his inventiveness. I’ve pondered the creative aspect of children ever since.
Recently my niece told me of an experience with her three-year-old son, Tanner. He got the creative urge and wanted to make something out of a paper tube. So, they set out to make something with pipe cleaners, tissue paper, and other materials. The object they created had wings, antenna, and was quite colorful as she describes it. They had two hours of fun. I could tell she felt the satisfaction of giving him her time and attention. Her son’s delight with the results was obvious when he wanted to take it to Grandma’s house to show her. Imagine my niece’s disappointment to find that Tanner had striped the prized artistic work down to the bare tube by the time they arrived. But upon arrival, he asked Grandma for some paint. He spent another two hours painting the tube repeatedly, and again he was quite pleased with the results. In my niece’s mind, her time had been wasted. It is quite common for adults to think that the purpose for a creative project is about the finished product or the result. We all understand how important this little treasure was to Mom because it was a creation of her son’s and a symbol of their time spent together. Adults must find the courage to set aside such sentimentality for the greater purpose of understanding the needs of our children. Tanner had stumbled onto something quite exciting during his two hours with Mom that day. He learned to take a simple form and add to it in whatever ways his mind could come up with. His imagination drew from the wealth of stories read to him, visual experiences, and everything he knew about his world in order to make something entirely new that was truly his own creation. What an experience his mom had given him! Who knows what creative thoughts entered his mind as he rode to Grandma’s house that day? What else could it do? What could it become with paint? Children become quite focused when creating. For the child, it’s about the PROCESS not the RESULTS. This is old news in children’s art education, but not many art teachers or parents grasp the importance of allowing children to experiment and enjoy the process of working with the materials. I hope you begin to ponder the idea now. Watch your children. Think about what they may be learning through the process of what they are doing when they create. You can see that their minds are fully engaged, thinking, pondering, creating! You don’t have to identify the benefits or explain the results of their time to others. Just know that by allowing them to create you are giving them time to practice something good that they will be able to use for a lifetime. Children learn through the process of using the materials. First efforts with any type of material will be experimental and unlike the adult who may be focused on the end result, the child will be fully engaged in the process all along the way.
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