power to the sketch book

 value highly the experimental, the experience is as much 

of the process as the result for a child

all those 'kinder' paintings add up to a child's life experience 

of where to begin when given the opportunity to hold a paint brush in hand ...

don't use them as wrapping paper ...

you know i've done that a couple of times & regret it ...

its not placing a value on what they have created

its placing an adult-design-media based judgement 

on what is the 'good' art!

all those ' drawings' 

... every single time a child holds some kind of tool 

to make a mark he/she learns about what the tool can do 

... & what they can do with that tool  

... along with the chance to express themselves 

... from the very beginning of my teaching days, 

all my students have had their own sketch book .

... to me its a critical tool 

... one that journals experience, confidence, expression 

& most of all ideas ...

so as it stands to date i've had 

Oscar working along on his own sketch book 

... in fact he has almost completed book number 3 ...

this book has been

pasted in

painted in with acrylics 

& water colours

pencils

pen

texta

crayons

layers of stickers

collage

cut up papers & sometime his own cutting!

sometimes all of the above on one page!

glitter

.... & photos: mostly of Oscar in the process of creating ...

sometimes of 'other' important activities or of something or someone

already they tell his story of learning & i love it

i stop myself from asking him:

"what's it a picture of" .... & let him flow with the conversation

do your best not to push your adult vision onto your child:

heaven knows that the big world out there will do that fast enough for them!

i try not to stop him when he wants to return to a page & continue

sometimes it does 'spoil' what i see to be a completed page but who am i to judge that!

when i can i make notes of some of his comments as he's been 'at work'

& i also date the pages as he goes ...

what a wonderful wonderful world of creative development

so if you can get your child/children a sketch book & let them loose!

it shows that you value what they are doing when they are 'drawing' 

it teaches them to be a researcher of their own ideas & experiments

it gives them the opportunity to be reflective

go on .... don't worry about things being messy!

your child will remember that he/she was allowed to experiment 

& will treasure those times more than you will ever know ....

if you're worried about the mess element: do what i often do!

set it all up on the kitchen bench while you're preping for tea ...

seriously: if they end up messy then bath time is not far away

& you will be there to keep an eye on what they may get up to ....