I have a type A personality. I like to plan things, and I things to go the way I have planned. One of the challenges I faced when I started to spend more time with young children was learning to relax my tendency to have it my way. I can still remember the frustration I felt when, at three, my friend's little guy was more interested in pulling apart the cotton balls than gluing them onto the snowman shape I had cut out. I have learned a lot since then, and I have come to realise that art with kids should be more about the process than the final produce. I know now that it was far more important for D, to explore the texture of the cotton balls than it was for him to glue them where I wanted him to place them.
Last week we got together for a Valentine's get togetether. The intention was for the kids to create Valentine's Day cards by decorating the cardstock hearts. In addition to the heart shaped cards, we dutifully set out stickers, markers, glitter and mini paper hearts to glue onto the cards. There was also a pile of cardstock, and some heart shaped punches available in case we needed to make more decorations for the cards.
As it turns out, the kids were much more interested in exploring the paper punches and attaching things (including the heart shaped cards) to the blank cardstock than in decorating the cards themselves.
Instead of traditional cards, our dads will be receiving super large Valentine's Day "I Love You" collages. I think the results are far more beautiful than what we had planned.
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