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Creative Minds

The kids and I took a creativity quiz the other day and the results were completely predictable. My artists were crowned Hands On and my "Box? What Box?" thinkers were deemed Bright Sparks.

This comes to mind because today we painted.

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"You can only paint on these rectangles of paper and you can only use blue and green. (I'm going through a color coordinating phase.) Other than that, you may paint any way you choose."

Charlie immediately got to work and slopped some paint on his paper. He was fascinated with the way the paint swirled through the water when he rinsed his brush.
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John and Faith painted with exuberance and speed. They were more into the process than results and happily swirled and spattered.
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Then they ran off to play chess leaving Lauren and Claire at the table. These two continued with their pencils and brushes for another hour.
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And the purpose of all this? That has to do with my results from the creativity test. As an Eyes Wide Open thinker I don't spontaneously generate fresh ideas like my Bright Sparks do and art doesn't flow from my finger tips like my Hands On kids but I know an good idea when I see one. These photos are the beginning of a new system that we are incorporating. Details to follow.

Comments

Sarah said…
Wow! These are really beautiful! I love all of the details in the last two. I need to show these to Sunshine so she can get some ideas...

sem
Anonymous said…
Wow, those are beautiful!!

Debby
Jennifer Jo said…
You've sparked my curiosity. Placemats? Artwork for a certain room?

I remember when you would get out the crayons, let the kids color for ten minutes, and then put them away before things got out of hand. It must be nice to be in a new phase. We're not there just yet.
Kate said…
J-

You are going to LOVE this idea. And for Charlie, I shooed him off after about ten minutes because that was all the attention span he had before he wanted to splash and splatter all over the table.

Kate
Wow! Tell the girls that their cards are worthy of Hallmark! Just beautiful...

I am apparently a Realist! No surprise there...

Xandra
40winkzzz said…
OK, yeah, just leave us all hanging... Hope you are not like another blogger I know who teases her readers with "more on that later" and then never delivers. (That would be me.)

It's fun to see the different things that different kids will do with the same tools and opportunities and restrictions. I love those butterflies!
I can't wait to see where you are going with this. I used to love art (and was almost an art major in college) but that was a long time ago and it drives me a little batty when I try something with the kids. I can't wait to see what comes next:-).

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