When Ethan was in Kindergarten, I wanted to volunteer to help teach art. I showed up for my first experience so excited and ready to inspire these young Picasso's. The teacher gave me a photocopied coloring book page of a bear. I was instructed to have the children paint the bear black, brown or white (meaning not painted at all) with the paw pads and nose painted pink. I was told the kids could pick their own eye color.
The first set of 8 students came back to the painting table and Ethan was among them. They were so excited. One girl exclaiming that the watercolors were just like a rainbow.
I then gave them their instructions. They were not impressed. Ethan said that he wanted his bear to be blue. The rainbow girl said that she wanted her bear to be a rainbow bear. The rest of the kids in the group started coming up with ideas too. Polka dot bear. Ninja bear. Flower bear. I said that those were really great ideas.
Something in my rule following, authority-figure-respecting personality was overruled by my admiration of creativity and opinion that art should be fun and artistic expression respected. It was really the first time in my life I had disobeyed a teacher.
As it turns out, this would be my last day volunteering with Ethan's kindergarten class. When the teacher saw the kid's bears she literally yelled at me for ruining her bulletin board.
But, it was worth it.
Children are amazing. They think in ways that adults have forgotten how to think. So, I was really excited to get an email from Donna of Meme's Art Place with a project she did for our Make a Difference challenge along with two from her children. I love that she let them do it their own way! That she is teaching them to think for themselves. That she let them use paint and be creative!
Now onto the Hardcase winners. Congratulations! Please email your address to julie at cosmocricket dot com with Hardcase Winner in the subject line. Thanks!
Phyllis who said, "love them......really bright and gets you in the mood for spring"
Becky Mayhew who said, "Those are AWESOME! Thanks for the chance to win!"
