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Creativity in Coloring

Creativity in Coloring

We took a break from alphabet coloring pages. Bella was getting a bit tired of them. I’d noticed that she wasn’t finishing the page each day and then she told me she’d rather not do them anymore. I told her we could have a break and come back to them in a week or two. I don’t want it to turn into something where I stand over her forcing her to finish her coloring. That would be absurd.

At the same time I do want her to persevere. If this plan doesn’t work I’d like to find some way of getting her to focus on the alphabet one letter at a time.

Anyway, today she asked for a school coloring page so we picked back up where we left off with H. I printed a couple of pages—a fancy illuminated H, and a house with a hen. It is fascinating to watch her creative process as she colors. As she colored the house with her colored pencils, she was telling a story about the family who were painting the house two different colors. She talked about them going to the store for cans of paint and how they got a big can of dark blue paint and a small can of pink paint. She talked about how they were going to put up a sign that said “The Most Beautiful House”. She said it was called Morning Glory House and then changed her mind and said it was called Rainbow House .

It reinforces my feeling that for Bella the graphic arts are always at the service of her storytelling. As long as she can spin some kind of yarn, she’ll color or paint for hours. But when it becomes simply a matter of filling in the lines she gets bored.

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2 comments
  • Melanie, sometimes when my children were little I had trouble concentrating on adult conversations, too.  It’s not like you can talk without being interrupted during the day.  You get to the end of the day, then, to the “uninterrupted” part of your adult relationships, and you’re tired.  It’s hard to concentrate, and you want to skim.  Persevere, because you need those adult relationships, and also because soon you will need that level of attention to conversation with your children, too.  But be patient with yourself while you’re pushing forward.  You’re in a challenging time of life, and you’re doing well, at least from what an outsider can “see” here at your blog.  (And, yeah, I know I can’t see the mess or hear the meltdowns.)

  • I am so much the same way. There are apparently millions of wonderful catholic podcasts out there, but I have no patience to first download (and don;t get me started on getting itunes to work on a PC) and then sit there and listen.

    Although I rarely have trouble listening to a sermon. Go figure.

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