My posts on Mondays have been delayed lately because I’ve received a new opportunity to teach art to kids. It’s sticky madness to be totally honest. I don’t mind though. Creativity is happening. Mistakes are termed as practice. Freedom of expression is running rampant, often literally.
If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. –Vincent Van Gogh
I had planned to have the kids weave a rug out of paper. They needed to make the loom portion by cutting slits in the folded paper. I even took the time to draw lines on the folded paper to make it clear. I was ready. Then we would weave the pre-cut paper through the loom paper. Simple. Or so I thought.
First, I had kids that cut their loom from the open end instead of the folded end. My bad. I should’ve made that clearer. Several kids ended up with big fringe instead of the loom. I reset their stations and we continued on.
I had lots of pre-cut strips of paper to weave through the loom. But I by far did not have enough pink paper. The thievery and backhanded trading between tables for the perfect colors were flea market worthy. While impressed I found myself cutting extra “correct” colors for many kids.
Then I passed out the glue… Friends I cannot tell you the correct level of stickiness. I need to make a scale. From “mildly adhesive” to “bound till the end of time” sticky. I had the kids share glue, however I underestimated the ability to pass it around. Next time I’ll be sure to properly portion and ration the glue in the future.
Life Tip: Glue rations are not reserved for post-apocalyptic life.
To sum it up, my first class was a bit over ambitious. Not that most of the kids couldn’t do the project but in my ability to maintain classroom order. Too many directions were lost in the shuffle. I’m going to call these days personal practice instead of a day full of mistakes. Hopefully you will be able to do the same.
Happy Questing!
Quest Type 