When it comes to crafting I'm great at getting materials and then by the time I have energy to craft then I've forgotten what my plans were. 🙈
I snapped up this flower idea via Instagram and applied to our regular crafting session, it worked a treat.
The idea of creating one simple flower had two powerful outcomes:
- confidence building in general and in practicing drawing flowers
- the flower was the start of what became something more (a work of art and a card for my girls' grandmother)
The foundational idea is that two circles, one small, one larger is sketched out on a piece of paper as a guide for drawing a flower.
Something like the image below.
Here's some practice sessions. The top two by me, the others are done by my five year old.
I use the Stabilo 3-in-1 here, I highly recommend, we've had a set for years. They have a multi use of being crayon and/or paint—we painted some of them with wet paint brush afterwards.
Then these ones we did with water colour paints.
My 8 year old took it further by turning it into a card and writing a message to her grandmother.
Highlight of observations and lessons:
- start with a simple idea: a guide of how to draw a flower
- support what happens next: most of the time it turns into something bigger
- open your eyes to everything going on: there is art, listening, focus, creativity, writing, exploring of ideas, practice and love here.
- everything is opt in: I start with the simple idea of creating a flower, there is no obligation for anyone to proceed. Sometimes I get rejection, other times they jump onboard with enthusiasm. If they reject or are not interested, there is no point continuing, imho.
And from a home education perspective, this is powerful. It's opt in. No forcing. I didn't even realise the words written until the next day.
There is writing, art, creativity, discussions, collaboration and exploration happening all at once. And it all started with exploring how to draw a flower.
