“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way…things I had no words for.” – Georgia O’Keeffe
Why am I so passionate about encouraging parents and teachers to provide young children with arts and crafts activities?
Even Georgia O’Keeffe stated that colors and shapes enabled her to express what she couldn’t express in words. Art activities and art education are crucial for kids…and unfortunately, those are the first subjects to be eliminated when school budgets are cut. Working in different mediums such as paint, clay, crayons and colored pencils allows young children to express their feelings and their thoughts in ways they may not be able to verbally. Give a child a box of crayons or a palette of watercolor paints and a pad of paper and watch the magic happen! Participate with that child and draw a picture alongside him and open the door to a wonderful opportunity for a discussion about…anything and everything!
Connections are formed in so many ways and I’ve made two wonderful new connections in the last week.
The first connection is with another Word Press blogger. Whenever I receive a comment on one of my posts from someone new, I always go to their blog to find out who they are and what they are all about.
That’s how I met Jake from Time after Time.
I was enthralled by the dragon button graphic!
And I promised that I would try to link up with his Sunday posts. This week the theme is Colorful!
Here’s how the weekly photo Competition works:
1. Each week, Jake provides a theme for creative inspiration. Show the world…based on your interpretation…what you have in mind for the theme, and post them on your blog anytime before the following Sunday when the next photo theme will be announced.
2. Subscribe to jakesprinter so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements. Sign up via the email subscription link in the sidebar or RSS.
GET THE BADGE FOR YOUR IMAGE WIDGET….
Make sure to have the image link to http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/ so that others can learn about the challenge, too.
The second connection I made was with Jim from ArtClick.tv. This website offers art instruction videos for all age levels. They even have special art instruction videos for children…what a wonderful tool for schools, homeschooling families or even individual parents. I’m really excited about this and I’ve been asked to contribute to their newsletter with a “Kids and Art” column! I’ll share more about this “art connection” in future posts. If you are interested in checking out the fantastic selection of art instruction videos they have, you can click on the link above or on the button on my sidebar.
VIVIAN KIRKFIELD - Writer for Children 