From the Creative Mind’s Perspective

Aug 16

Imagine it is your very first week back to middle school, and you are antsy to meet your new teachers and peers. For the most part, everyone seems friendly and approachable with their warm smiles and cheery "welcome back" shouts. However, there is that one class that fills your stomach with butterflies- ANXIOUS butterflies that make your hands shaky and your stomach queasy. For you, that nerve-racking class is art.

As you gather your fresh art supplies and drag your feet down the crowded hallways, you begin to think about all the different things that could go wrong. "What if the teacher thinks my art is bad?" and "what if my friends laugh at my drawings?". Eventually, you arrive at the art room before you have more time to think of the worst scenarios.

You find a small table to place your crayons, scissors, construction paper, and pencils with a heavy sigh. Because you took your time to get there, the class is just about to begin. "EEK!" you scream to yourself internally, "what is this awful art teacher going to critique today?".

The teacher, Ms. Coraline, walks to the front of the room with her hands behind her back and smiles. "Hello, everyone! And welcome back from your summer vacations. To begin, I want to hear about all the exciting things you did over your summer break. Can you create a drawing that shows your favorite activity from this summer?".

You look around the room to see your classmates' faces, which, to your surprise, seem to also be a little nervous. You feel a sense of relief that you are allowed to draw ANYTHING exciting about your summer vacation; you were even happier that the assignment asked you to share personal details about your summer hobbies. "I can't possibly mess this up!", you think to yourself.

"Also, if I may add," Ms. Coraline began while excitedly clasping her two hands together, "you may use any and all materials that you have brought with you today! Aaaaannnddd, begin!". Even more excited now, you find yourself subconsciously reaching for your perfect piece of new construction paper and pointed, sharpened pencil. You felt eager to share about your life with your new classmates and Ms. Coraline. Even better, you didn't feel the pressure of not being able to draw a perfect circle or breaking your clay pot in the hot ceramic kilns.

Similar to Ms. Coraline's art lesson, TaleTree wants to personalize every session with the campers. We work to eliminate discouraging environments while creating a space for all creative minds to create their art from their very own perspectives. This means that, aside from our optional weekly challenges, our campers can upload anything and everything that comes to their creative minds- as long as it serves our respectful environment.

Because our campers are sharing their genuine interests and talents, they become genuinely interested in each other. This encouraging environment promotes our kids to build social skills while creating healthy friendships based on shared interests. We have often found that these shared interests amongst our TaleTree friends can turn into creative collaborations, such as a live-story telling session about friendship or creating sentimental bracelets for one another.

Thanks to TaleTree, we can skip the uncomfortable first-week-back-to-art-class angst and dive straight into a world of never-ending imagination. Thanks to TaleTree, we can miss the rushed bus ride to art class and upload our newest creations to our online portal with a few clicks. Thanks to Taletree, we can skip the hazardous in-person environment and meet with our distanced friends via zoom session. Thank you, TaleTree, for allowing our creative perspectives to widen and blossom!

“Your perspective will either become your prison or your passport”- Steven Furtick

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Sign Language

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