Creativity education, which is taught in kindergarten, is not necessarily cultivated in the family. Too bad, because it is fundamental in many areas and has many pleasures in store! Here are some activities that our Bsit babysitter has proposed and that we share with you!
Can you learn to be creative?
“If a person can’t read or write, you don’t assume that they can’t, but simply that they haven’t learned it. It’s the same with creativity.” The words of Ken Robinson, a pedagogue specializing in the development of creativity, are unequivocal. Being creative is something you learn. And creativity touches all fields of human activity: to imagine a decisive step in football, the team must be creative, to solve a scientific puzzle, so must researchers, to meet the major challenges of tomorrow’s world, so must we.
For the development of creativity, freedom and encouragement to experiment are fundamental and artistic disciplines are a good training ground. So, rather than requiring us to “not overflow” or to make a “handsome man”, let us provide our children with space and equipment. And let them be free. To overflow. To try. To “miss”. Pomme d’Api offers you 5 ideas below that require paper and colours, but modelling, music, theatre, dance, etc. can of course stimulate creativity. Not to mention contemplation, boredom, reading, free play… Let us keep in mind, as Ken Robinson reminds us, that “all human progress is based on imagination.”
6 tips to read before starting activities
Don’t take everything out
For a small child, taking out pastels, markers, coloured pencils, etc. is disconcerting! It is also better to choose only one or two colours (blue + yellow, or red + yellow, or a colour + white). There may of course be “self-service” sessions where you have access to all the material, but not every time.
Protecting the environment
A blouse (or an old T-shirt) for young artists, an old oilcloth on the table… To avoid the paint can that spills under the weight of the brushes, replace it with a hollow plate. Or group the jars in threes using a large rubber band.
Attach the brackets
It is difficult for a little one to hold his leaf while drawing or painting on it. It is best to attach it with painter’s tape or masking-tape. If you can use a vertical surface or an easel, it is even better for large drawings.
Archive their creations
Write his name and date on the back. Why not put a string in the hallway or in your room and hang the most recent works on it with clothes pegs? Some parents take pictures of them and then digitally archive them and… sneak away a few square metres of paper. Because production can be overwhelming!
Be patient and patient
It takes some, to keep yourself from intervenir ! We want him to discover that blue + yellow = green. But blue alone is good too, isn’t it? Similarly, our child enjoys spreading glue in multiple layers and we see it as a waste. But glue can be an end rather than a means, right? Oops, he dips his fingers into the paint can… How about a work with his fingers?
Reacting with finesse
“Oh, the beautiful poule !” “But it’s not a poule !” defends herself, tears in her eyes, the little artist. We always tend to want to see “something” in the drawings. Our classic reaction: “It’s pretty, what is it est ?” The child, on the other hand, does not always seek to represent anything. It is in the pleasure of the material, the line, the drawing. You might as well just describe what you see: “You used blue and red. Now I see it’s much darker than here. Whereas in this corner, you chose not to use color.” To the older ones, we can ask them to tell us what they did.
5 creative activities to do with children
– Milk fireworks – To open your eyes wide – At any age
Equipment: a flat-bottomed plate, milk, liquid watercolour or food colouring, dishwashing liquid, cotton swab.
Realization: pour a thin layer of milk on the plate. Put a first drop of colour on it (usually it flows). Soak one end of the cotton swab in the dishwashing liquid and invite your child to touch the coloured drop on the tip of the swab. Surprise ! It “explodes” in all directions on the surface of the milk. You can then add drops of other colours and continue until the milk has acquired a uniform colour.
-•Full-length, life-size self-portrait – To take your place in the world – At 3 years old and… much more
Material: a sheet of paper the size of the child (or the back of an outdated road map), artistic material of all kinds (markers, pencils or paint, but also glue, pieces of cloth or gift paper, beads… everything is permis !)Production
: place the sheet on the ground and ask your child to lie motionless on it.
With a felt pen, draw the outline of his body (this can also be the task of an elder) on the sheet. When he gets up, observe his silhouette on the ground together: what about dit ? Then invite him to “dress” the man as he wishes. Once the paper portrait is finished, it can be cut out following the contours and displayed on the bedroom door.
-•The scribbling challenge – To create with others – From 3 years old
Materials: one sheet of paper per participant, drawing materials, an hourglass or timer.
Realization: each participant draws “a scribbling” (something abstract) on his sheet, before passing it on to his neighbour. The latter observes the path he has received and continues the drawing using the scribbling as a starting point. If he sees an animal, he makes an animal out of it, if he sees a man, he makes a man out of it, etc. The younger ones can continue the “scribbling”, add colours, etc. The timer can be used to limit the session, but it is not mandatory. Then, all the works are exhibited and commented by the group. It’s also an opportunity to look at the “scribbles” with more respect than habitude !
– Shadows and lights – To see reality differently – From 5 years old
Material: a vase, one or more branches of foliage or a few bouquet flowers, a sheet of paper, tape, pencil, pastels or other coloured art materials.
Realization: place the branches or flowers in the vase and place it in front of a light source. The ideal: on a table in front of a well oriented window. The shadow of the bouquet is projected at the foot of the vase. Place the sheet of paper you are attaching with adhesive tape on the shade. Invite your child to follow the drawings drawn by the shadow with the pencil. No matter how much it “exceeds”, accuracy is not required. Then remove the bouquet and look together at the traces he made: isn’t that surprenant ? Does it look like a branch or does it look like another chose ? Does he want to add color (not necessarily the color of the model, by the way) or does he prefer to leave it as ça ?
-•As big as possible – To free your mind and gesture – From 3 years old
Material: a large sheet of paper or a large piece of cardboard or a blackboard, drawing material of your choice.
Realization: it’s simple. Arm your child with the above equipment, attach the sheet to the stand if it is more comfortable for him, and simply tell him: “Draw the biggest possible ! You have all this place !” Let him do it, then, once he’s finished, ask him: “Did you know you could do such a big dessin ” You can also suggest the opposite exercise, giving him a small piece of paper the size of a post-it note. In this regard, have you noticed how much the A4 format (and its “family”, A5, A3, etc.) has become norme ? It is very rare that we draw on square or very elongated formats. By proposing something other than the familiar proportion, we sometimes have surprises !