I just found a book in the library (see previous post) called – The Creative Family: how to encourage imagination and nurture family connections by Amanda Blake Soule.
It was full of some really good ideas.
I’m just going to jot down a couple of notes that I thought were helpful as part of this review.
- She does a family drawing time – kind of like the “notebooks” project that I described.
- Art Night – where you gather another family together, set up art centers and create.
- Gather ideas in an accordion type file folder – bits of creative inspiration. I’ve done this for years – when I see something I love in a magazine, I’ll rip it out. It’s just a great idea to categorize them. I think I’ll do a section on drawing. (More on that in another post when I get it worked out.)
- Search for old books in a thrift store, or old books that are falling apart for pictures and re-crafting ideas. (I LOVE this idea!)
- She puts the kids art work on an Inspiration Wire, my sister has done this for a while and I think it’s just a great way to do an “art show” when you don’t have a ton of room.
- She talked about allowing your kids to use quality products and tools. I agree with that because, lets face it – the dollar store crayons just don’t add color like crayola. 🙂
The book was full of inspirational quotes and really lovely pictures as well as some fun ideas that can help encourage creativity in children.
Amanda’s website Soule Mama is interesting as well.
One of my favorite quotes from the book was –
“The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn’t been, and until the end of the world there will not be another child like him.”
-Pablo Casals
Tamarack Idea Factory 
I like the accordian folder idea. I need to get a few of those. My sister always lets the kids rip up catalogs and magazines with picutures to make their own story books.