Children have an innate need to create and the gift of creativity. So do adults, whether we recognize it or not. My family does lots of creating—rarely is our table free of some sort of project in the works. Children are wonderful and open artists. I love watching their progression from stick figure drawings that can’t really be distinguished to more sophisticated recognizable animals, and their excitement over any new form of media they discover, whether it be different paints, watercolor crayons, making cut-out Christmas cookies, or building a fairy house out of found natural materials.
Last week I was at my parents house and my mother had a large basket full of pottery that we had made in art. I looked through it, pretty sure that there wasn’t any of mine left in there, since I’m the oldest and it was probably long gone. There was one, a little pinch pot, and it was painted greenish-gray. It was pretty homely really. But I looked at it and thought about the times my art projects were judged and how the joy of creating was taken from me. If I could talk to myself back then, I would have looked at the little girl that made that pinch pot and found something good to say about it to her. So what if it wasn’t cute, she had made it and because of that, it was special.
Do you have childhood experiences like that too? Remember that we all need to create, in whatever form it takes (there are many!), and honor that. There are a wealth of ideas out there to get you started. As a new year approaches, commit to making space in your life to create and experience the joy of making something, too, either with children or on your own.
Krista Bocko lives in ‘Old Town’ Noblesville with her husband and four children. She strives to encourage creativity and enjoys documenting their creative adventures. She can be reached via her blog at www.cachetwrites.blogspot.com.
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