Creativity and healing in kids.

Creativity and healing Before I utter the words “ I am an artist” it is more than likely that I say “I have three boys” as my opening line. Our three children and their thoughts, habits and activities shape family life. My career as a professional painter and educator has grown organically around the boys.Therefore, my motherly duty is to look at the schedule the boys run from week to week, especially during the current pandemic, and to help them think outside the box (or outside the ipad!) for things to do. Creativity comes in many forms, not just paint and paper - sensory art , making puzzles, learning to balance a ball on the end of your foot. In my role as an art educator I teach young people in art workshops. Kids find calm and a sense of self worth through mixing and applying  paint. For them to know which colour they like and don’t like helps them to get to know themselves better. What a valuable tool in today’s society where young people are bombarded with messages of how to look or what to think. When I worked with young people with learning disabilities we had sensory workshops set up for a “ day at the beach”. An ice cream cone to smell,  sand to set their feet into and to draw across a canvas with bare toes. The sensation of shaving foam replicating a “99” ice cream and the light touch of an airy beach ball.  As we passed each young person’s wheelchair along they communicated their preference via  head movements and the blinking of eyes. My own life is an example of how creativity can give a child hope during the hard times. My mum said that my drawing increased after my dad died the week before my eighth birthday. Creativity served as its own medicine during my spells of grief and clearly was one of the things I knew from a young age that I liked to do. I am passionate about enriching the tapestry of every young person by teaching them art in an informal setting and promoting self confidence while they navigate the things in life that they love mixed with the things they don’t love so much. So today, as you tut at the felt tip pens lying with the lids off or the shoes covered in mud and dumped at the back step take pride in the fact that your child has engaged in something that has expanded their mind. Being creative and thinking outside the box can ease tension and heal open wounds. Please do check out my youtube channel and know that I am proud of your young person’s mark making. Furthermore, my latest recorded tutorial is available for kids and we send all materials and a superhero or dancer print in their pack.