10 Great Ways to Create A Culture of Creativity With Your Kids

Recently I had the opportunity to speak at a homeschoolers conference and share a bit about coaching an artistic heart in your kids.  As I prepared and gathered information on this subject, I realized it really was about creating a creative culture.  So today I've decided to share a few things I have learned and discovered along the way.

1. Creativity really starts with YOU!  Even if you think you are not creative, I beg to differ.  There is something inside of you that is creative in nature.  It may be buried deep down inside or perhaps it may look differently than you think.   The attitude you carry about yourself and what you can and cannot do speaks volumes to your children.  So I would say use your words wisely and don't put yourself down or your creative abilities.  Rather, be willing to try new things and see what it is you like.

2. Incorporate a creative space in your home.  Find a space that is not tucked away in a dark corner, but somewhere with light and that would be inspiring.  As I am sure you already know, if you have little ones, they want to be where you are.  I personally have had to make a space in my kitchen and empty out a nearby closet for art supplies.

3. Have an art caddy full of your favourite art supplies.  Have these readily available and the kids will use them much more and you just might as well!  On my art caddy I have some things that are a must in our home (liquid watercolours, markers, oil pastels, glue, glitter, acrylic paint, watercolour paper, pencils and stamps).  DIVERSITY is great!



4. Invest in a sketchbook for you and your children.  Honestly, being able to just doodle for 10 minutes a day has made such a big impact in my creativity.  I also find that my children love to get their sketch books out and do the same.  Sometimes they will draw pictures from something they have just watched on TV or something that they see.  It's a great way to encourage creativity throughout the day.

5. Speak to your kids about their artwork.  Don't just assume you know what they are drawing or painting.  Instead ask them to tell you about their painting.  I also suggest that you be specific in saying what it is you like about their artwork.  If it's the colours, or the lines they used, the uniqueness that they show in their drawing, then make sure to tell them.

6. Encourage their style.  I could do a whole other post on this topic alone.  For now I will just say to help them develop their style by seeing what it is they like about their art, looking at other artists work they like,  and daily doodling without any preconceived ideas about what they should draw. Encouraging their uniqueness.  Look for their personality traits in their creativity.

7. Take time as a family to create together.  The kids love this and you may find yourself smiling too! Do family drawings and paintings together where everyone adds their own flavour.  Pick a project that you could all do and even add storytelling or music into the mix.

8. Put out drawing prompts for your kids to get inspired (I did a post on this in the past).  Some ideas you could try are to glue googley eyes to paper and have them finish the picture,  place their toys out for them to sketch, start a picture and have them finish it,  or have an inspirational wall with inspiring pictures for them to incorporate in their drawings or paintings.



9. Create with the season you are in!  I love that we are approaching spring and summer because there are so many creative things you can do outside.  From creating a really colourful doodle garden, to gathering and painting sticks, painting stepping stones that tell a story, to making an imaginary land with cardboard boxes under a big tree. (hmmm this is topic to blog on more!)

10. Display your kids artwork!  Somewhere as we get older, we can lose that excitement of wanting everyone to see what we've just created.  As a kid, you can't hang up your artwork fast enough.  As we get older that changes and we don't want anyone to see what we just did.  I think that's really sad. It's all part of a journey and what you and your child create is an expression of you on that day and time.  So I say display!  Have things such as a wire to hang artwork on, frames, cork boards, a clipboard wall filled with artwork, or make some of the artwork into a journal for keepsakes to look back on.  I only wish I had a journal like that, that I could look back on and see what I had done as a little girl.  Celebrate the creativity!

So there are just a few things that you can do to create a culture of creativity. ! I hope you enjoy and happy creating!!!

Trish

What It Takes To Keep On Rhyming (A Post By Steve)

For those of you who have been following us for a while on our Facebook page , you'll know that I (Steve) have been trying to do a rhyme to end each day with.  As a musician and music teacher, I tend to always be thinking of and looking for different words and rhymes to use for lyrics.  So I figured that doing rhymes each day wouldn't be too difficult for me.  But the reality is,  after the first few weeks I started to find myself struggling to keep at it.  I found it difficult to get inspired.  I found that always doing the 'funtastical' rhymes didn't always fit with the mood I was in.  And so, I finally decided to just start doing poems of whatever would come to mind.  Some are thoughtful, some are fun, some are just plain dumb (ha, I made a rhyme and didn't even know it)!   But that's ok.  I'm sure the reality is that for every 100 rhymes I come up with, I may get one that really is good.  But the other thing for me is that if there is one that encourages you, or brings a smile to your face, then that rhyme is a success.

Too often I can tend to focus on the numbers.  I love stats and tend to follow our Facebook stats quite a bit.  It's easy to get caught up in the numbers and how many likes, comments, or shares I get on any one particular rhyme or post.  But why is that?  Why do the numbers represent success?   Which then makes me ask, what really is success?  Is success seeing lots of people saying how much they love what I'm doing?  Is success seeing money come in from our creative endeavours?  Or is success deeper than that?  Perhaps success is really just being able to do something we love, and bringing a smile to someone's face as we do it.  Perhaps success is the little things, not the big numbers.  For me, it encourages me to know that something I have written might have brightened someone's day.  Even if it's just for one, then that encourages me to keep on going, to keep on rhyming.  That's what keeps me going when I don't feel like sitting down and writing.  I love hearing your stories and comments of how you look forward to the bedtime rhymes each night.  I love knowing that in some way I have brought light to your day.

So I will continue to rhyme.  Some will be good, some will be not so good.  But each will be a success in their own way.  Even if the success is just the fact that I took the time to do the rhyme!  :)

Steve

Staying True To Your Own Style

Maybe it's just the sunshine we have been experiencing lately, but I have been in the mood to paint. So much so that I could have easily cleared the art store out of canvas.   I have sketch book after sketch book full of ideas and paintings just waiting to happen.  This week I did two simple ideas came to mind.  For me, I love when I can find a meaning in what I paint and I also love how often others have their own interpretation as well.  I always say art is the one universal language that can speak to anyone.

Trying to stay true to my style, I set out to paint these two new paintings.  However, while painting them I found some of my old mindsets trying to set in again.  I had to battle them and let's just say it wasn't easy.  What do I mean by old mindsets?  I began to think about what I thought people would like to see on my canvas.  I began to look on the internet for inspiration (which for me is a big mistake). While looking, I seem to loose my unique style and instead try make things look like what I see.  In the process of that,  I start feeling really frustrated and it steals the joy of painting.  So once again I knew I needed to turn the computer off and look through my daily doodles instead for inspiration.  Let me just be clear... if you look on the net for your inspiration I am not putting that down.  People get inspired from other people's work all the time and I believe we are made to inspire one another.  I just can't do that.

As I began to let my style come out through my doodles I began to feel much better about what I was painting.  There is a lot that goes into planning a painting.  Not just the idea of the painting, but how to compose a painting.  How to make it look balanced and pleasing to they eye.  What colours work together and having proper perspective.  Maybe at later date I will blog more on composing a painting but for now here are the two new paintings I have created.  Enjoy!

Free to fly

Free to fly 

fly to the sky

Nothing holding back

Breaking free from that shack

Beat to your own drum

Beat to your own drum

Don't just let the crowd lead you

Nothing new will ever come

If you don't try something new.

A Funtastical Family Portrait Experience

Recently we decided to make our very own family portraits.  I'm not talking about the kind that you create by using a nice camera!  Instead, we designed and made our own pictures.  Ok it may not be exactly as we look but I would say the kids and Steve did a great job and we had lots of fun doing it.  I started by using a large roll of butcher paper that I rolled out on our kitchen floor. One by one Steve, I, and the kids traced each other for a somewhat similar body outline.  The kids really loved doing this and it was lots of fun to see the results after we each got up!

With our outlines a little distorted from how we really look,  it left us to be a little more creative as we then took oil pastels and filled in our body with fun clothing and of course a face and hair.  And there we had them...life-size portraits that we hung on our walls.
Here is a re-cap of the experience!  Hope you enjoy!  Have fun creating your own family portraits and creating memories.

Trish

Sneak Peak: My New Funtastical Painting Line!

I have been working over the past few months on some new paintings to go with The  Lucy Collection.  Many people have been asking me to do paintings for little boys, and I've been busy working on these.   Introducing The Little Nate Line!

There are six paintings in all and they all come with little stories that are going to be made into a book for boys and girls.  All of the paintings have been created on cradle board and are 16" x 20" in size.  They are all done in acrylic paint.  So for your enjoyment, here is a sneak peak of some of the Little Nate line.

Little Nate was a dreamer!  He would lay awake every night dreaming of what he could be.
 No dream was too big, for he knew that He was created
to reach for the stars and do great things.

Little Quinn was an adventurous soul.  No place was too far for him to go.
He would find a way to visit lands that were unique and rare.
 It was there he would share good news to those afar.

Little Charlie was full of rhythm.  He could hear notes and sounds from a mile away.
He couldn't help but feel the beats as He composed some of the most beautiful songs.
It was as if heaven had come down.

The Perfect Ice Cream Recipe! A Fun, Delicious, and Easy Winter Treat

I have never been big on eating snow.  Even as a kid it wasn't something I did.   However, I catch my kids all the time shoving snow in their mouths!  We've all heard 'don't eat the yellow snow,' but how about eating brown snow?  Even worse right?  Not exactly.

The other day I took the kids out for some fresh air and a snack and guess what we found?  The snack was right in our back yard as we made homemade snow ice cream!  Doesn't sound appetizing?  Let me just say, you need to give this a try.  To my surprise it was delicious!  We took our bowl and found a fresh clean batch of snow, which wasn't too hard to find since we have stacks of snow this year!  Filling our bowls, we added one simple ingredient. Chocolate condensed milk! You can just use regular condensed milk as well if you choose.  But I love the chocolate.


Pouring it into the snow, it actually thickened the snow and made the texture like ice cream. We could have even put it on a cone.  It was so good and really cold. You can even put it in a dish and freeze it like normal ice cream.

Sometimes you don' t have to look too far to find something different and great!  But as good as it was, hurray, spring is coming!  I think?????
Have a fun!
Trish

Inspiring You And Your Kids Through the Creative Power of the Sketchbook!

I love to take time each day to draw in my sketchbook.  Except my sketches are more like whimsical doodles.  I have found that taking 15 minutes a day to doodle has really changed my creativity and helped me come into my own style.  So I wanted to pass this simple exercise onto my kids since they already love to draw.   With the numerous papers of their drawings all over the house,  I had to do something to keep track of them all.   A sketchbook seemed like a logical idea since it keeps all of their wonderful creations in one place.  So recently we purchased bound sketchbooks for the kids and I am encouraging them to use their new books.  

How do you inspire sketches/doodles for you and your kids to add to your sketchbooks?  Here are a few thoughts.

1.  Doodle:  I normally doodle without any kind of expectation of what to draw.  I just make lines and shapes and don't really pay much attention to what I am drawing, I just see what comes out on the page.   I love this because it has taken all the pressure off to try to draw something really great.  When I'm finished I'm often amazed to see what I find in my doodles.  Characters with little stories to tell, and sometimes even reflections of what I currently am going through.  Somedays I add colour with watercolours or markers and it brings even more imagination out!   I find that for kids, when you ask them to doodle they will often begin to draw pictures.  So to get them out of this mode I take them through something called taking your pen for a workout.  I explain that your pen is going to workout today and sometimes it is walking, running, jumping, twirling and so on.  They love it and begin to naturally doodle.  We then fill the lines with colours.  It's important when doing doodling that you don't erase your lines.  Just go with what you draw and don't worry about making any mistakes.  I love to doodle in black tip markers.

2. Sketch from your imagination:  I find this is the most common one my kids do.  At ages 2,4 and 6 they haven't had any formal art lessons on how to draw.   I just let them create and draw what comes to mind.   I will often find my son drawing images from his favourite movie.   My six year old draws lots of pictures of her family.   My two year old loves to draw with tons of colour.   They will naturally have things in their heads that they like to draw.   At this age, I don't worry about trying to correct them or train them on how to draw, but rather let them have fun!   As for me, I too love to draw from my imagination and have found that it is a skill I have had to develop over time.

 

  

3.  Sketch an object:  Again, with having young kids I don't tell them that we are going to draw this object on the table but rather I set up clues of things for them to draw.   I may place a toy or a flower on the table and begin to sketch it myself.  Usually if my six year old sees this, she too begins to do the same.   My four year old may do this too if it is something that peeked his interest such as Toothless from the movie How To Train Your Dragon.

There are some simple things to do when opening your sketchbook!   I want to leave you with a challenge this week!  The family sketchbook challenge.  I recommend that each member of your family that is participating whether one or 5 purchases a brand new sketch book and takes about 15 minutes a day to sketch or doodle.   Let me know how it goes and I would love to take a peek at what comes out in your sketchbooks if you want to post pics! 

                                

One last thing,  I would recommend a sketch book with a coil ring for yourself, and a bound sketchbook for younger kids if you want to keep all their art in one place.  If you are going to use markers or watercolours,  I really love mixed media sketch books since you can use all kinds of media on it.   For my kids, I just got simple hardcover sketchbooks that they couldn't easily rip the pages out of!  

Happy sketching!

Trish