Creative Child May 2020 | Page 54

CREATIVE HIGHLIGHT Art/Creative Play Space: For some children, this will just be reams of paper and organized art supplies such as pencils, pens, erasers, and crayons. Others prefer painting, origami, puppetry, comic making, crafting, or music. The key is to make a designated area where his or her supplies are all organized and easily located. My son used a desk in his bedroom to create his crafty projects such as foam people and custom robots. However, when his desk got taken over by his school books when the schools closed for the pandemic, I noticed that he stopped crafting. He made a remark that he wanted to finish a project he’d been working on but his desk was covered in school books and I offered to let him use the dining room table. “Nah,” he said, “it’s not the same. All my supplies are in my room.” This proved to me that the designated space was integral to his creativity. 53