An Invitation to Create: BUGS

To follow up on the suggestion from the Mindful Mornings post, I wanted to share an example of one that I used this week. The book that inspired me, "The Nature Collection" by Clare Walker Leslie, can be found in My Little Earth Shop.

For this simple start to the day I left out a bowl of shale I had collected at the creek over the weekend. Alongside this was the book mentioned above flipped to the section with some lovely bug illustrations. These illustrations were what got me going in this direction.

A jar of colored pencils, pads of paper, and some examples I started drawing completed the invitation. I loved the space so much that I wished I had had more time to sit down and create too!

As an artist, one of my favorite things to do currently is to watch my kids draw. I absolutely love seeing the lines take shape and the freedom and confidence they have. I encourage them with a gentle hand, never wanting to change the way they see the world. That's one thing that is so great about an "invitation". There is no right or wrong way to interpret the materials I leave out.

Below is a really stinky stink bug that my son drew. The abundance of zig zags surrounding the bug is it's smell, I was told. : )

This one here is a bird because they were sitting by the window and the birds were chirping. Next to it on the page is a butterfly landing in the grass. More often than not the kids opted to draw without using the rocks as a jumping off point. But occasionally they did take my prompt.

They investigated my BUGS station at the very start of their day as I made breakfast. What a wonderful way to wake up, in my opinion. ; ) They were so excited to run over and see what I had left out for them and stayed with it for about fifteen minutes or so before running over to eat.

These simple set-ups are a great starting point to the day. After this they came back to the station a couple times here and there in the afternoon. I like to leave them up in case they want to check back in at any point.

Would love to see drawings if you test this one out.

Post any pics in our facebook community!