LittleSketchers

You might have often swayed along a song. Danced and maybe even hummed along…but have you ever sketched along a song??

Perhaps, if you are an artist, maybe! Just try it once…you will enjoy it and so will your Little Sketcher!!

Here is a sweet melodious sketch that Tejjas ‘made along a song’!! Oh! What fun! Thoroughly rejuvenating 🙂 We played the song once, we played it twice, we re-played it zillions of time, in fact it is still on as I write…

What a wonderful worrrrld!

I see trees of green…red roses too,
I see em bloom…for me and for you,
And I think to myself…what a wonderful world!!

I see skies of blue…clouds of white,
Bright blessed days…dark sacred nights,
And I think to myself…what a wonderful world!!

They say, a picture is worth a thousand words!

Our brains process and remember information by linking. Pictures help ‘link’ and connect, help us in retaining much more than would words…learning within the brain is done by linking ideas, questions, words and pictures in huge inter-connecting branches and webs.

My son, like any preschooler his age gets confused between b and d…so today we took some help from good old ‘art’!! And I must admit, it did come to the rescue 🙂

Here is our version of a boy with b and d as his two eyes! And yes, he remembers now!!

If there are any such tools that you have used or intend using, feel free to share…

This is a fun weekend activity that you can do with your kids. Start with drawing some buildings, trees, cars, buses on cardboard. Or you can also draw on paper, and then stick that to cardboard. You will find your own way through the process…I enjoy cutting out empty cornflakes cartons whenever I can lay my hands on one. Let your kids do the drawing and they can also paint what they create.

For amazing templates and inspiration, you can visit Joel’s Blog

Every city has its own amazing landmarks and a spirit that is truly its own…
This can turn out to be quite an exciting project, children can learn to identify places and landmarks. You can also take a tour of the city with them on a weekend…and re-live old memories.

Enjoy!

Y’day we saw an interesting advertisement on TV, it was a promo for Madhya Pradesh! Amazing Ad!! Inspired, both, my son and I, got down to ‘creating’ some of our very own wall art. Or is it shadow art? Perhaps, will look it up on google 🙂

While trying our hand (and arms) at it my son came up with an eye! It seemed as if he was just resting his tired arms up there…but Voila! he cried out…An eye!!

Impressive!! Ain’t it? Try it with out your little ones, I am sure they will surprise you with what all they can create…

When my son was little, whenever he looked up at the moon….especially when we were in the moving car, he used to get excited, “why is the moon ‘coming’ with us?” And I always told him, “coz it is following you!” the moon is your best friend, I once told him and so is the sun. They will never leave you 🙂 when one friend goes the other comes! Isn’t that what real friendship is all about…

Y’day while out in the car, I looked up in the sky and yes, his friend was up there, following him home as always!

We often buy story books for our children. We read out stories at bedtime. We tell stories at meal times. In fact we are talking stories all the time…well almost!

These lovely little birdies are tools for you and your child to ‘cook’ up your very own stories…all new, all home made! You can tell your child to draw animals, birds, humans, fish and whatever they fancy…cut these up and stick them on to cardboard. Take care to also cut a long ‘stick’ so as to hold these little ‘puppets’ while you are telling your story!

You can also create a background of say a garden or a city to enhance the effect.

This is not only a cool pass time but as you will discover yourself, it’ll help build communication and creative skills.

All the drawings in these pictures and our very own Home Made Story are done by Tejjas – my little sketcher 🙂

Enjoy!

Made a HUGE mango popsicle for Tejjas today…well, y’day to be frank, since it takes several hours to freeze!!

Turned out really nice and yum 🙂 It’s pretty easy to make. Take a nice big ripe mango, cut it out and add your choice of juice to it, orange, mango or pineapple. Add some honey. Blend the mixture nicely and fill it up in a plastic glass. You can also experiment by putting it in muffin cups. Cover these with either aluminum foil or cling film. Push in a stick, I couldn’t find any…so used a big plastic fork instead. Suits well, kind of blends well with the HUGENESS and the color 🙂

Plan to make some more again.

Yum!!

This vibrant little table has a some neat ‘containers’ for all your paraphernalia…be it stuff you picked up on vacations or your trip to the beach or little thingies from your child’s babyhood days.

Our Little Sketchers Paraphernalia Table comes in hues of yellow, peacock blue, green and red. Use it as a center piece or cover it with a glass top. The choice is yours. I let mine be open and about…

We can also give you a ‘primed’ table that you can paint yourself with your kids on a weekend! You will be proud of it! What say?

Let’s get going!

Art, Mind and Brain: A Cognitive Approach to Creativity
by Howard Gardner

I have been reading this book, well, started reading it a long time back. Keep coming back to it off and on.

The book is an amazing insight into the minds of children and their creativity.

It is a superb piece of research and definitely offers a lot of facts. Beautifully packed with drawings and case studies, it gives a walkthrough of a child’s mind and tells us how the mind nurtures the creative spark.

The author is a Professor of Cognition and Education at the
Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has written 25 books translated into 28 languages, and several hundred articles. Gardner is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be adequately assessed by standard psychometric instruments.