Carnival of Creative Mothers: Nurturing A Culture of Creativity

I’m really delighted to be taking part in this Carnival of Creative Mothers… please do scroll to the bottom and take a creative trip around the world 🙂

Welcome to Week One of the month-long Carnival of Creative Mothers to celebrate the launch of The Rainbow Way: Cultivating Creativity in the Midst of Motherhood

by Lucy H. Pearce. 

Today’s topic is Nurturing a Culture of Creativity at Home. Be sure to read to the end of this post to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

 

Join the Carnival and be in with a chance to win a free e-copy of The Rainbow Way!

November 27th: Creative Heroines.

December 4th: Creative Inheritance.

December 11th: The Creative Process.

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Having grown up in a creative home, where we were encouraged in any of our endeavors, creating and nurturing a culture of creativity in our little home is something close to my heart. I really feel it starts with an attitude of freedom: often as adults, we see a child making/painting/drawing and *we* want to put a meaning on it, for it to “be something” Sometimes it is! More often it’s a joyous expression of exploration and just doing. From watching my children through the years, I love seeing the natural progression from what they gravitate towards when small, to their interests as they get older (drawing to comic animation; making to sculptures and building)

(not beautiful, oh no… but very practical)

 We have many shelves of art materials (and I’ve many more in my studio!!) We have a very free attitude to materials, I try not be precious about them, but advocate good usage (explain about cutting near the edge rather than from the centre of the paper/fabric etc) I remember keeping things for when I was “good enough”, “had an ingenious idea”,  and never used them, still having them 20 years later…

 I try to have a good stock of basics:

-Paints (decent ones, many of the kids paint are badly pigmented gunky water. School supply shops or student quality aren’t expensive and allow for proper use); ditto for pencils and crayons

–Brushes: I use student quality, and many of them; I buy in bulk as the children use these too. It frustrates me to see children given a cheap brush with hard plastic bristles that won’t hold the gloopy “kid paint” and allows them no control over the brush. I always give a child a range of sizes: mine always take the biggest first and then soon realize If they are “drawing” with the paint, they need smaller!

–Paper: we buy reams of white paper and it’s used for everything. It wouldn’t be unusual to go through a ream in a matter of days. I have cheaper water colour paper for when it’s needed, and keep any off-cuts for any times they may be called for (whenever I look like I’m doing something exciting!)

–Glue: Pritt stick and PVA (white) glue

-Scissors: mine used scissors early on. They were watched and minded while using. We have relatively sharpish ones for normal use, and I keep the sharp ones out of reach

-Sellotape, Pipe cleaners, Toilet roll inserts (I collected these for years, it is heartening to see my daughter has taken up where I left off) Pom poms, plasticine clay, felt sheets, buttons, beads. I am a hoarder so collect “bits” all the time.

I am a fan of “strewing”: leaving interesting things and books nonchalantly lying around, waiting for a child to spot them and be inspired. I am NOT a fan of organized “art activities”: I’ve been there, and it’s hardship, the children get bored and your inner control freak is losing her mind because they start messing or Not Doing It Correctly.

Nurturing a culture of creativity in your home involves a lot of mess, a lot of closing your eyes to said mess. It involves encouragement and praise, and plenty of going with the flow. In our house it often means folding the clothes one end and a busy work station at the other. It means a lot of output, a lot of ideas, a lot of jumping into the bed in the morning full of ideas for the day ahead. It means boxes and drawers of years of drawings and crafts (I date, name and explain as many as I can)

It means LIFETIME of joy and pleasure, learning, fun and exploration.

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ORDER YOUR SIGNED COPY of  The Rainbow Way!   and grab your free extras (first 200 orders only!):   – exclusive access to a private Facebook group for creative mothers   – a vibrant greetings card and book-mark of one of the author’s paintings.   Kindle and paperback editions from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble or order it from your local bookshop!

Carnival host and author of The Rainbow Way, Lucy at Dreaming Aloud shares an extract from the chapter Nurturing a Family Culture of Creativity.

Lilly Higgins is a passionate food writer. Now a mother of two boys, she’s discovered a new calling: to instil in them a love of food and creativity in the kitchen.

 

DeAnna L’am shares how visioning the New Year with your child is an invitation to be inspired: use creativity and resolutions to create a fun road map for the year ahead.

 

Molly at Talk Birth on Releasing Our Butterflies – balancing motherhood with creativity.

 

Laura shares some of the creativity happening at Nestled Under Rainbows and a few thoughts about creativity.

 

Georgie at Visual Toast celebrates her own unique culture of creativity at home.

 

Esther at Nurtureworkshop spreads the love of the ordinary, the delights of everyday things that can be an adventure of the imagination.

 

For Dawn at The Barefoot Home creativity is always a free form expression to be shared by all in a supportive environment where anything can be an art material.

 

Naomi at Poetic Aperture is a mother, artist and photographer who tries to keep her daughter away from the expensive pens and paints.

 

Aimee at Creativeflutters writes about keeping your sanity and creativity intact with small kids in the house in her post: Mother + Creativity – They Must Coexist.

 

Amelia at My Grandest Adventure embarks on a 30 Days of Creativity challenge…you can too!

 

Becky at Raising Loveliness explores creating with her smaller family members.

 

Jennifer at Let Your Soul Shine reveals how children help us connect to our souls, through music and movement.

 

Mary at The Turquoise Paintbrush shares her experiences of creating with kids.

 

Brooke at violicious spent too much time worrying and trying to be creative instead of letting it flow.

 

Joanna at Musings of a Hostage Mother explains why creativity at home is important to her in her post “I nurture a creative culture.”

 

On womansart blog this week – nurturing a creative culture at home.

 

Creative woman at Creator’s Corner loves color and uses it to paint, draw and decorate to inspire herself and her family.

 

It took until Amy at Mama Dynamite was pregnant aged 35 to discover her dormant creative
streak – she has found lovely ways of tuning into it every since.

 

Anna of ArtBuds is a trained educator and art therapist. She has been creating all her life and nurturing her daughter’s creativity at home is a priority.

 

Deb at Debalicious shares how her family enjoy creativity at home.

 

Emily at The Nest explores how creativity runs through her family’s life together.

 

Jennifer at OurMuddyBoots sees that encouraging creativity in children is as simple as appreciating them for who they are: it just means overriding everything we know!

 

Lisa from Mama.ie has discovered that a combination of writing and traditional crafts can provide a creative outlet during those busy early years of new motherhood.

 

Anna at Biromums shares what nurturing a culture of creativity means to her.

 

Zoie at TouchstoneZ argues that the less they are interfered with, the more creative children become as they grow up.

 

Darcel at The Mahogany Way celebrates creating with her kids.

 

Molly at MollyLollyLoo explores her family’s shared creative times.

 

Liz at Reckless Knitting shares how she celebrates creativity with her family.

 

Sally (aka The Ginger Ninja) of The Ginger Chronicles is continually inspired by her own mum and grandmother.

 

Just being creative is enough, says Nicki at Just Like Play, as she ponders her journey of nurturing a creative family.

 

Allurynn shares her creative family’s musings in her post “Creativity… at the Heart of it” on Moonlight Muse.

 

Laura at Authentic Parenting explores how being creative saves her sanity.

Mama is Inspired talks about how she puts an emphasis on the handmade in her home, especially in the holiday season.

 

Kirstin at Listen to the Squeak shares with you several easy ways for busy mamas and dads to encourage their children to be creative every day.

Chiswick Mum believes that a healthy dose of chaos is the secret to nurturing creativity at home.

 

Mila at Art Play Day always lived in her dreams, sleepwalking through life … now she is finding out what creativity is all about…. her inner child!

 

Sadhbh at Where Wishes Come From describes how picture books can nurture creativity in young children.

• Lucy H Pearce