What is Kindness?

I am sure all of you know the meaning of kindness, but the dictionary definition of it is: the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. All of our kids at TaleTree are very kind to one another, and we practice kindness everyday. We do so by asking members of the group to share their thoughts of their friends’ creations. This creates a happy and comfortable environment, encouraging kids to want to show more of their artwork. This week, we had many kind words spoken. A few of them really stuck with us. One example is when one of our long term members Sasha, was showing a drawing she made. All of the kids had amazed looks on their faces and gave her great feedback. Davina had said that if she tried to attempt what Sasha created, it would take her at least 5 weeks to do. This made Sasha very happy knowing how much the other kids look up to her. Then, Davina showed her creation of a small house she made, and Makayla thought it was awesome. Makayla had told us her favorite things about the house, and continued to talk about it throughout the camp. We love when our kids spread positivity, and share kind words with their friends. Many of them were shy at first, but as soon as they get compliments, they begin to break out of their shells.

Another way to compliment someone can be by trying to recreate their work. We realized this after Davina said it would take her weeks to try what Sasha made. Also, when Jane said she wanted to try to make music and animations the same way Seah did. We love that these kids are inspired by their friends, and want to try new things. It truly is amazing seeing how they can branch out from their standard art style, and recreate something that interested them.

It is always okay to recreate someone else’s work as long as you give credit to the original creator. An artist is always happy to see others recreate something they made, as long as this person is not stealing their creation. Remember to always say where you got something from if you did decide to copy another artists work. We love to see all of your recreations. Following another artists work helps us to experiment more and become better artists. We can jump outside of our comfort zone and learn how to navigate many different art styles.

Line Drawing

Have you seen examples of line drawing? Sasha showed us a line drawing she made in her art class during camp the other day. A tip she shared was that you make some dots first and then draw those lines. Now you can try it yourself!

Balance Objects or Yourself?

Balancing things is pretty difficult to do but once you learn the basics, you will just need to practice with different materials. Can you collect 4-5 rocks or other objects and try your balancing structure?

Learning Animal Series #1- Platypus

If you created an animal collecting different parts of multiple animals, you might end up creating the platypus. What would you create if you could put multiple animals together to make one?

Dream Big

We have our monthly camps to show you what kind of things grownups do or specialize in. Visualize what you would like to do when you grow up! Ask your mom and dad what their dreams were when they were at your age, too. Everyone can dream about something and that's where everything starts :) Tell us what you desire to be or do.

What Are These Little Creatures? Learning Animal Series #2- Sea Otters

Can you come up with 10 cutest animals in the world? If you have made a list, maybe the sea otter is on your list :) Learn about them and sketch a lovely sea otter!