Creative Kids: Some Days They Decide What To Do!
I usually do up craft kits to have on hand to do a project with my 3 year old. I have slacked off and haven’t made any up lately. I do them up to make it quick to get out and not let my son see all the supplies (or he would want to play with it all).
Yesterday morning, Clayton asked if he could paint. Immediately my mind started coming up with excuses why we couldn’t. Bad mommy attitude right there! I caught myself being negative and realized, why am I worried about mess when he just wants to be creative. After all, it is washable finger paint. We have a table I can cover and lots of paper to paint on. So, my reply to him was, “Sure, what do you want to paint?”. Fully expecting a nonspecific reply, I started getting the paint ready. Then he says, “Yoda, I want to paint Yoda, mommy!”.
Yoda, really?? Okay, so here I am thinking, he’s 3, maybe I can make a circle with pointy ears and a drapey robe. That would be great for most 3 year olds, but next thing I know, he passes me THIS colouring book and tells me, “like this one”.
My quick sharpie version of Yoda in Sharpie marker on Finger Paint paper. Not bad for a quick sketch (remember, 3 year olds are not very patient).
I am so glad I changed my attitude towards his request to paint. He had so much fun!
Here are the results and a few other paintings he created. Oh, and must share the video as well, he LOVED getting messy!
It was a quick clean up, washing paint brushes, fingers….hands, okay, arms! We hung the paintings out to dry and then he had another request. “Mommy, can I cut paper?”
Clayton has not been one to sit for long and practice colouring, cutting, gluing, etc, so I thought this was a great chance to help him learn. Well, I was shocked. He did great, and I was able to capture some pretty cute faces he was making while concentrating! Check it out.
So, all this to tell you, it is really fun to let the kids decide what they want to do sometimes. We enjoyed about an hour of creative play with some fun artwork to show for it. PLUS, by letting him decide, he was happy and super proud of all he created.
Happy creating!