Children + Devices = Bad Bad Bad (or does it?) ...and how does that make you feel? :-/

Frying their brains... or learning skills?

 When we were little the 'big deal' was television.  Too much TV rotted your brain, right?  What about all those people that grew up to be actors, producers, cinematographers, etc.?  Why was television, arguably, GOOD for some people and just a numbing, zombie making, box of brain death for others? This is what we think, some people were thinking... the whole time they were watching!  They were inspired by the images, music, story lines, SOMETHING.  They were creating later, with the information that they gathered.  Television was a springboard for them, not the end all.

From our experiences with our children, we see that there are different ways that different people 'do' different things.  One kid can watch a TV show and sink into a stupor of unthinking blobness while another kid can watch that exact same show and think about how the lighting bounces off the puppets, how the camera angle makes such a big difference in the 'feel' of the shot, and wonder the whole time how they can replicate the set to produce their own 'movie' of the same quality.  It makes us wonder if the activity (in this case TV watching) is bad for our children, or if there are WAYS to watch TV that are bad for our children.  It makes us wonder if a better question than 'how much screen time' might be 'how is each individual child handling screen time'.

Violently creative?  Or creatively violent?

Do our children really need to be fluent with technology?  Yes.  Won't there be enough people that are computer and device savvy that the world won't need OUR children turning into drones?  Well, the thing is, technology is a language and they will have to 'speak' it well.  (We see that we could be on our own screens far less if we had a better command of technology ourselves.  Ironic, isn't it?)  It makes us think though, that a healthy dose of technological know how is definitely very important for our children's futures.

We spoke with our friend, Loreal, and some good points emerged.  People, we concluded, are individuals.  Rules for one child might not be exactly right for another child.  Life should be lived fluidly and if there are indications that too much internet, device, or digital entertainment time is happening we can simply stop allowing so much...  Maybe instead of spending so much time discussing and thinking about the damage that certain things do to our children's minds we might look at our children, in the moment, and efficiently diagnose the immediate, present situation and respond to that...

Our children can still hold pencils!

Does your child spend time on MineCraft and then build elaborate (or inspired) structures in the living room.  Do they draw box-like creatures on napkins and talk to you about them?  Is there evidence outside of device time that indicates they were thinking while they were staring at the screen?

Some of our children spend time on their screens and then produce all manners of artworks, music, writings and ideas around what they have watched or played.  Some of our children only complain about how bored they are when they are not allowed to play with their device.  Guess which ones we allow to spend more time in front of their screens?

...and are adept agents of espionage!

What do you guys think?  Do you think that we should worry about time constraints if our children are growing, or would they grow MORE without screens?  Also, do children need to be encouraged to be creative and be in the habit of creating FIRST, in order to respond to technological stimuli in a forward thinking, motivated way? What does screen time and the limiting of it mean for adults?  Is it bad for us to be glued to our devices so much, even if we are working?  Do we sometimes make all this more complicated by spending so much time thinking about it?  Would we all get along with less guilt and judgement if we did not have 'emblazoned burned on our hearts' opinions about these things? Thoughts?

-Epp

How to Get Out of Doing One's Chores: Lego Stop Animation

How can a mom steeped in creativity stop the creative process in her child to enforce the 'unload the dishwasher' edict? Arrg. She can't! That is what my kids know about me. :) 

(Honestly, that is what Eppie's kids know about her, too! -Sorry, Epp, secret's out.)

Also: Tell me that a free app is 'cute, creative, adorable, educational, etc.'. -Sure you can get it!

-No, you cannot get the one where you are a contract killer. 

That one always goes last, when I am in the adorable/ educational/ my kids must want to be brilliant app haze. -Sorry, it won't work, boys.

So, while not unloading the dishwasher is very naughty, this beautiful paper towel/watercolor background and intriguing storyline saved her and her phone from getting a grounding. Because she needed it to film the Lego stop animation adventure movie, you know?

Kidding aside, Eppie and I are willingly used thusly by our children because we believe that the celebration of creativity in kids leads to creative thinking (hello, paper sculpture while one should be cleaning the table!). 

Somehow our houses are no messier than other moms' that have children home all day, every day, thank goodness... It probably takes us longer to get them clean, though :). 

I can't wait for the sequel to this Lego underwater adventure. It is scheduled to be filmed when we are supposed to be folding the clothes.

15 Hours, 11 People, One Big Honkin' Van

Yesterday we packed 4 adults and 7 children and a bunch of stuff into a 15 passenger van and made a 15 hour trip from TN to PA. We are crazy. Just for the record.

Getting Ready for Nashville's TACA Craft Fair

We will be in Nashville on May 4th, 5th and 6th for the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists (TACA) 41st annual craft fair in Centennial Park. Our booth features creative play as the main focus. We are so darn excited to offer artist designed toys to parents as a way to encourage creative play!

Julie packed up today and is ready to go to set up tomorrow with our friend Loreal, who was kind enough to lend a hand, since Eppie has a gig playing music in PA.

So:  The Monkeys are dressed and ready to go.

The Snuggle Babies are ready for hugs.

 

And the Moon Fairies are ready to par-tay!

We will post photos of the show soon. Although, we'd love to see you in person, if you stop by!

We hope you will come check out all the awesome artists this weekend in Centennial Park!

What Is Creative Play?

Remember when you used to play outside all day long, making forts, playing ball, or exploring with friends?  Can you remember your favorite toy? Was it that special friend that was tucked in next to you after a long day of magical adventures? Was it that giant box of blocks that your mother bought at a yard sale? How about your bicycle?

Play, and the toys that make up that play, are very important tools for the healthy development of children.

Creative play can be defined as: Play that involves imagination and creative expression, combined with stimulation to develop manual skills.

Many art and craft projects provide avenues for creative play, but other tools may supply motivation for play in this fashion as well.

Some of our personal favorites:

Legos...

Doll play...

 

Recycled and natural materials...

The best toy choices help children, create,learn and pretend.  If you are trying to decide whether a toy is good for your child or not, ask if it does any, or all of these things.  If it does, it is a good toy for creative play.  If it does any or all of these things and can also ‘grow’ with your child, it is a perfect toy for creative play.

Our Art Party, Featuring: Our Friends!

Our budget for advertising, and just about everything else, is pretty small. :) But, like all small businesses we still have to get our products out there and noticed. So, in order to have some photos of more than just our combined families of children, we turned to our friends for help.

Recently we invited some of our kind friends over for a photo shoot party at Julie's house.

It was just a little soiree to get some sweet photos of sweet kids having a good time being creative.

We had cupcakes with white icing (made with homemade vanilla!) and sprinkles in a rainbow of colors, white chocolate dipped/ rainbow sprinkled pretzel rods. Our friend Brenda brought fresh strawberries from right down the road. Thanks, Brenda! They were delish!

We had three creativity 'centers' with Sculpey sculpting, pipe cleaner and bead creations, a paper doll area and a place to draw on giant paper.

The area by the table became quiet when the kids went off to create.

 The older kids nicely helped out with the younger kids and half a dozen of them piled on to the front porch swing making us all wonder how long it would hold up!

It is always inspiring to see kids making and doing. 

 We love the age of no creative inhibitions. 

Just pure color and line on clean, white page. Letting the hand move and the color flow...

We strive to create like that still.

At some point Leonardo, the turtle, was released into the house and the kids had a great time finding him again. He is back, safe in his aquarium, thank goodness.


I think we took some good photos of happy children doing creative things, which was exactly what we wanted to do! I'm sure you'll be seeing more of our photo shoot party pics around the website and blog soon. Thank you to everyone who came over!!

How to Teach Your Child to See Like an Artist

Have you ever asked a child to draw you a house?  We have all seen the stereotypical square with two windows and the triangle roof.  Add a door, maybe some steps and there you have it, a house, drawn by a child.  A little uninspired maybe, and why is this?  Children are, if you think about it, not particularly interested in 'house design'.  Have you ever asked a child to draw you their favorite toy.  Here you will see something a little more original, a little more detailed.  A child cares about their favorite toy.  As adults we can show children how to see in a way that will help them forge a relationship with the subject matter, exploring and therefore remembering the experience.

Zephyr Art is based upon nurturing creativity in children.  When we were younger artists we often offered classes and workshops.  We began by teaching drawing lessons and quickly realized (and have since learned that scientific research supports this) children need to nurture their creativity far more than they need to be taught technical artistic skills.

"Who has ever seen a tree?" We would ask.  Ha, they had all seen a tree.

"Can you draw one for us?" We would ask.  Well, of course they could.

The children would draw trees and we would all look at them together.  They did a beautiful job of drawing smooth straight tree trunks with branches jutting out, perpendicular from the main stems.  Some children drew circular leaves and some left bare sticks but they were all very much alike.  We set the drawings down and grabbed their hands.  We would go outside and play in the trees!  We ran to the trees and felt their rough bark, ran our hands up to where the branches burst out of the tree trunks in upward angles, rolled the silky smooth leaves through our fingers and noticed how nice it was in the darkness of their shade.  We would explore the trees for a while and then go back inside.  We asked for tree sketches a second time.  Suddenly we were presented with original drawings.  Some trees had shade scribbled at their bases, all had bark. Many of them sported knots or imperfections in the trunks. All the trees had leaves and the leaves had jagged edges and veins.  One child drew insects climbing up into the branches. The point is, we showed the children how to really see the trees.  We demonstrated that if they observed something with more than just their eyes, really tried to experience it, they could later recall things about it that they wouldn't have remembered otherwise.

Children should be taught to see this way, taught to observe closely.
We should all push each other to experience life, see a little clearer than we are naturally inclined.  Who knows?  Some day somebody might ask any one of us to draw a tree!