open-ended art....

T'was the week before Christmas
and all through the school,
the teachers were struggling
to keep their kids cool....

Or something like that!

At my school, it's a tradition to decorate your classroom door for Christmas. But after we finished painting a door-sized Christmas tree in all kinds of bright colours, there was lots of paint left over. So I handed out more blank paper and told the kids they could paint whatever they wanted to.

They had so much fun and worked at their paintings for a lot longer than they sometimes do. Some of them painted Christmas subjects, and some of them didn't. But they virtually all did something great!

There are so many beautifully crafted art lessons out there on brilliant teacher's blogs and on Pinterest. And there's nothing wrong with teaching structured art lessons. You have to teach skills and challenge kids; and everybody -- kids included -- likes to have a nice product at the end of an art project. But sometimes kids need to follow their own impulses. That's where creativity comes from.

So here's the question: Why don't I do this more often?

Me: What's the green creature beside the tree? The artist: It's my Christmas
giraffe!!! (And lots of giggles.)

The artist: I don't know what it is, but it has two suns!