A homemade "play place" using toys and furniture cushions
“Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.”   –Pablo Picasso.
Neat homes are overrated. Sure, it’s good to tidy up at the end of the day. Putting toys and clothes away is a good habit to instill in children. But there’s a place and time for everything, including messes. As an artist who spent a few years being blocked, I’ve learned that joy and flow are among the most precious commodities in life. To most young children, experiencing joy and creating without inhibition is a natural state of being. Encouraging creation in our home is among my greatest pleasures. I believe that respect and self-actualization are the birthright of every person, regardless of age.
"Welcome to the Play Place." Sign made for the door.
I’ve been fortunate to learn about Maria Montessori’s approach to early childhood education. She advocated the careful observation of children, of how they question, learn, and solve problems on their own. I love to observe my children while they’re creating. They are like radio towers receiving transmissions from the divine. If the house becomes quiet for a few minutes, I tiptoe to the room where the children are and peek in to make sure they’re safe. I avoid being noticed. What I often find is my son and daughter, heads bent, working silently on a tent structure or on a book they’ve fashioned, authored, and bound. I respect the sanctity of their concentration.
Do not disturb.
Sometimes when our children’s friends visit, they remark (to their parent’s mortification) that we don’t have many toys at our house. We actually have a lot of toys, but we cycle them through so our children can move about freely in their home. They need room–actual square footage–to make their string sculptures that stretch across the dining room chairs, around the stair railing, and over to the living room sofa. Within this one “mess,” they’ve practiced measuring, unrolling, cutting and tying string–all fine motor skills. They’ve assessed distances and solved simple spans. They’ve analyzed the intersections of different materials. They’ve directed their own efforts. Most importantly, they’ve taken a vision in their minds and manifested it in the physical world. It would be difficult to design an activity that could accomplish so many worthwhile ends.
And then there’s the beauty! The beauty of what the children have made, and the radiance of their faces when they share their work with those they love. A little hand grabs mine: “come look what we made!” I’m tugged towards the new project. What will it be? By now they know not to draw on the walls, so there’s no worry. We arrive and I sit on the floor so they can tell me everything, eye-to-eye. . “A rollercoaster launcher, you say? Yes, I see!” Their work is important, welcome and worthy. It’s a fine mess. The finest.
Outdoor string "web" sculpture
Costume made from duct tape, colander and cereal boxes
Flying reindeer, using packaging tape stretched up at an angle between doorknob and chair
I LOVED this! I am just starting to really think about how to make a “making” environment for Ava, who will be 2 in October. It is so much harder than I thought– you really have to think about it from the ground level and I have to learn when to let the mess be and when to clean it up. Any ideas are welcome!
It really is all about perspective, isn’t it? One person’s mess is another’s masterpiece. Finding balance is key, though. My children would always want to keep their livingroom “fort” up for a month!
What fantastic work from those two. I especially love the flying reindeer!
This makes me feel a whole lot better about the “mess” of tin foil animals littering my living room at the moment!
Thanks for writing, Jen, Kerri, Ashley and Katherine.
Jen, a few thoughts:
Low shelves with simple art materials and a child’s table & chair is a good beginning. Set it up in the main living area because children want to be near their caregivers. They are part of the family and need prime real estate, too. In our art area, we have construction paper, white paper, scissors, tape (x 20, all kinds), yarn, string, hole punches, stamps, stickers, and all manner of markers, pencils, and crayons for drawing.
I think the most critical part is saying to oneself “I’ll allow the making of things in the house.” The knee jerk reaction is to say to a child “no, don’t tape that” or “you can’t….” But really, most household surfaces can recover easily from tape and string. Let children move chairs around. They can be moved back. So the stair landing’s blocked with a yarn sculpture? Duck under it just for today, or for part of today.
Another thing I do is partly dismantle installations at night so the grown-ups won’t be disrupted. If my children’s art project took a long time to make, and is clearly very important, I’ll re-attach it in the morning. Usually by the second day, they’ve absorbed the lesson or felt the fulfilment and are ready to let it go. I try to photograph important pieces as a record for them and for myself. This tends to ease anxiety about the work being taken down. “We have a picture!” I’ll say. Check out this blog for inspiration; she’s the family-creativity-guru: http://soulemama.typepad.com/. Have fun, and prepare to be wowed by your sweetie.