Art & Craft

I remember when I was about eight years old, my late father helped me with an art homework that required me to use ice-cream sticks like the ones in the picture.

I was having difficulty sticking them together and making quite a mess. Then there was the painting. Urghh!

He made a lovely hut for me. Pedagogically speaking, I would have disagreed with what he did in doing my work for me (and it wasn't the only time for art because that was the only area he could help me with) but as a daughter, it etched a memory in my heart.

I have sometimes avoided doing art and craft for it's own sake because I find the exercise a mere filler for a particular lesson or just to pass the time. Then there's the issue of all these crafts taking up space.

I do love making art in direct relation to a lesson; a drawing of a letter or making a model of geometric shapes.

Art and craft for itself is not totally a losing game though. It provides an avenue for a child to express his emotions and perspective of what he has witnessed. Thus, having materialised his thoughts in art, this can be extended in a language lesson as through descriptive writing, for example.

For younger children, making beautiful products of art is more the exception (unless you have a prodigy with you!). The intriguing part of it for them to me is the use of the hand, (in some popular theories they like to say the heart and mind too).

The lightness of touch (or a forceful one) when making a particular stroke, the controlled grip when building a structure- they all require an inner strength that bends the body to the will of the child to reproduce what he felt or envisioned.

Now that's something don't you think?

So the next time you see a child struggling, he is most likely in the process of forming himself. Sometimes the most difficult part of discovering your strength is what will take you to the next level.