Unintentional Art

I meet with a homeschooling group once a week in our area where kids from age 2 to around age 10 get together and do crafts, field trips and science experiments. This week, I had planned for us to make these cute hand print turkeys for Thanksgiving. We did end up with just one little turkey.

But of course the kids had other ideas. Why settle for turkeys? Why settle for just painting your hands? Instead, we ended up with a much more creative and fun child-led project! Afterward, the kids got to play in the water of the hose and the outdoor shower to clean off while the moms discussed how important it is not to fence kids in too tightly when doing art projects. After all, which are the kids going to enjoy and remember more, the day they made a project according to instruction or a day when they got to paint their bodies and play in the water?

Childhood: 1 Mindless Instruction: 0