Creative Minds

My kids LOVE to do art-draw, color, paint, create, cut, glue, staple, whatever. Lately, my living room has been covered in paper, markers, paper, glue sticks, paper, scissors, and more paper. The other day I had to demand that they play outside with their neighborhood friends (it was a beautiful day-they will have all of the long, freezing cold Minnesota winter to play inside). Today Sam and Emily were making paper clothes. Emily would decorate a piece of paper in suns, stars, flowers, rainbows, and other girly designs and then staple or tape the paper around her. It took her many experiments to figure out if staples or tape worked best. At one point, I left the room and came back to find her in just her underpants wearing a paper skirt and paper shirt. Sam, of course, had to join in on the paper apparel fun and he designed paper shoes. Tape and green construction paper were the medium. He had formed the paper into shoes but they would not stay on so he taped them to his feet (at least he didn't try to staple them on!). I should have taken a picture, but by the time I thought about it their paper clothing and shoes had torn apart (paper clothes just don't last!).


The other day Brad came home to a disastrous living room and said something to the effect that they are lucky I tolerate such messes. Yes, it is totally annoying that a huge mess is made and I am concerned that someone will drop by and see my living room in such a state, but I tolerate it for a good reason. I believe that creative play is good for a child's brain. As they engage in their creative undertakings their brains are problem-solving and figuring out what to do next. They are imagining and having fun. I think that is really important so I tolerate the mess while they have their fun, but they do have to clean it up before they go to bed!


Sam noticed me posting a picture of Emily's awhile back and he wanted me to scan this picture. It is a balloon. He did it all by himself. He was very proud of it and wanted me to scan it into the computer so we "can keep it forever"!
Here's Emily's latest picture. The dress is colored with glittery pen. You can't see the shine on the scanned picture.