in case any of you are looking for gifts for wee ones to celebrate the first day of spring, check out ruth heller coloring books. so many nature & outdoor designs that will put all those elmo coloring book pages to shame. pretty, pretty! darla will be receiving a few of these from the flower children come March 20.
momjeanz
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ok. a couple of years ago- a high school art teacher told me that she absolutely hated that children were taught to color “in the lines”. She said that she had read several research studies that showed a huge drop in creativity and imagination at the kindergarten age- simultaneous with being taught to color in the lines. I’ve never given it a whole lot of thought until recently…. and I keep wondering, while I’m coloring with the babies- should I encourage them to color within the lines or let them just do their own thing? Really- why is it that we color in the lines?
I’m completely reminding myself of your milk post. I know, I know…. it’s coloring…. but it plagues me.
What are your thoughts?
ps- I do love those coloring books- I think they had some at the Children’s Museum today. :)
ha, well an interesting take that somehow evolved in this house is that i would comment on darla’s scribbling outside the lines with something like ” i like how creative your coloring is” and when she colors inside the lines i say things like “i can see you’re really working hard to stay in the lines. nice hard work.” it was my way of spinning both into a positive thing and now she will comment on her own colorings this way. it is so trivial but now she sees both ways of doing it as having value. i’m hoping this will permeate to other areas of life i.e. sometimes you gotta color in the lines. sometimes you don’t. you seem like you’re giving them lots of other outlets for creativity without boundaries so i’m sure a little line adherence every now and then won’t squash too much :)
i think i’ll be sitting down with her to color some of these in the lines myself, though. the art work is so pretty in them.