Having creative confidence is trusting and valuing each and every one of your ideas and taking creative risks.
In the Art Studio this is goal #1 – to instill creative confidence in every visitor that walks through the door – no matter what the project is, what medium we are exploring, or what collaborative project we are constructing.
Each month we post a new idea about how to instill creative confidence in children at home and in the classroom. This month’s idea is…
Idea 7 – Curiosity – try something new.
“Children are such curious creatures. They explore, question, and wonder, and by doing so, learn. From the moment of birth, likely even before, humans are drawn to new things. When we are curious about something new, we want to explore it. And while exploring we discover. Discovery leads to pleasure, pleasure results in repetition, repetition creates mastery, mastery brings new skills and new skills bring confidence.” ~Dr. Bruce D. Perry, internationally recognized authority on brain development and children in crisis.
The big theme for the month of September in the museum is CURIOSITY. In my opinion curiosity and art-making go hand in hand. One could not exist without the other. Over the last few weeks in preparation for September activities in the studio I have been thinking a lot about the role that curiosity plays in the creative life of children and adults.
My creative confidence idea for this month is to try something new with your child. Take him/her to the art store and let them choose a material that they have never worked with before or you choose a material or medium that you have never used and do some making, exploring, creating with your child. Does the prospect of this make you nervous? Putting yourself in a vulnerable situation where you don’t know all the answers is a great thing for your child to see. Children need to know that we never stop learning, that curiosity is a part of life that should be honored and fed, and that adults don’t know everything! As Walt Disney says, “When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.” And I certainly agree with Joseph Addison when he states: “Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination, because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.” So feed your soul, take some risks and invite some new experiences into your life and your child’s life. You will open yourselves up to new possibilities and ways of thinking, and will help build your child’s creative confidence at the same time!
The Power of Play 