Wonderments: make it yourself games

At the end of the school year I love to give students ideas for ways they can use art to keep from getting bored in the summer. I often teach them some paper folding, and making things from recycled stuff, anything that will capture their imagination and motivate them to be creative at home. This year I am showing some of my classes how to make a simple game, then they can springboard off this idea to invent their own games! Here are a few results from 1st grade. The board game is on one side- and the spinner is on the other side of the cover. They can invent more boards and pieces to add to their book all summer!

wonderment: coloring/ basic needs

 

As I am watching my schoolchildren today I am struck by how many choose the stations where they get to fill in areas with color. Today's station choices include: chalk -landscapes, or finishing portraits; yarn -weavings; craypas -abstract line designs; paper strip constructs or weavings... I am trying to be intentionally aware of the choices they make, and considerate of what the draw is to that station. So many of the students choose the stations where they are coloring, whether it is with crayons, chalk, colored pencil, markers, or craypas. Perhaps they like the mindlessness of it, and the big results. They love the abstract designs where there is no pressure to create a likeness. I am really wondering if coloring fulfills some type of basic need? We need love, shelter, food.... and coloring!