Welcome to the Canadian stop of The Artful Parent Book Blog Tour!
I’m happy to announce that I’m hosting my first ever giveaway! I couldn’t have arranged for a more appropriate item to feature; this book is true to my own passion for art and creativity and sharing all of that with my family as Jean Van’t Hul does with hers! I have a copy to giveaway to one lucky person. Keep reading to find out how you can enter for a chance to win!
I’ve been following The Artful Parent blog for several years now as a source of great inspiration and ideas for art exploration with kids at home. Jean Van’t Hul, THE Artful Parent, has provided parents, teachers and caregivers a vast amount of project ideas over the years and her new book encompasses over 60 of her arts based activities!
I can go on and on telling you why I think this is an amazing book, and I will 😉 but there is one sentence that sums up why I think this book is so great and it’s in the Acknowledgements:
To my mom… for providing the freedom to be creative during childhood, and to my grandmother… for being a kindred spirit, the first real artist I knew, and a continuing inspiration.
Reading this almost had me in tears (acknowledgement tributes often have that effect on me!) I think because I can relate to it with my own family experience and because to me this book is all about providing children the freedom to be creative (so special) and providing inspiration by example (so important)!
The Artful Parent: Simple Ways to Fill Your Family’s Life with Art & Creativity is a resource for artful activities but what I really love is that it goes beyond the actual project ideas. This book is a guide to all parents – those who consider themselves artful or not – and provides basically everything you need to know about how to encourage creativity through art with children.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say “I’m not crafty at all!” or take my friend who upon seeing this book at my house said “The Artful Parent.. I’m so NOT an Artful Parent!” But this book speaks to all.. whether you think you’re artful or not and provides guidance as to how to “[Say] Yes to Art”!
The Forward, written by Mary Ann F. Kohl reminds us that being artful is a choice and how “living artfully will be the finest choice you’ve ever made for your family, next to reading books at bedtime and putting nutritious meals on the table.”
The Artful Parent is a tool that encourages thinking and will help you raise creative, productive thinkers and doers. – Mary Ann F. Kohl
Kohl ends the Forward with the following invitation: “Join us and become an artful parent, giving your family the gift of a lifetime of creativity.” This book gives parents the tools to do just that and THAT is why I love it so much!
Before I move on to share an activity we tried, I want to highlight these lists of “Do’s and Don’ts for Talking about Children’s Art” found in the chapter: “Encouraging Your Budding Artist.”
I share this because it’s so important to consider the ways that we talk to children about their art. How we respond can make or break a child’s interest in creating and has a huge impact on their intrinsic motivation for art and ultimately their confidence.
“Do Say This… Nothing. (When in doubt, zip your lips.)”
Ha. Love it! So true. Sometimes it’s best to just observe.
Okay, our ‘Artful Activity’ experience…
I asked V to flip through the book and select which activity she’d like to try…
She chose Artful Activity 14: Clay Pinch Pot Nest with Eggs and Bird. Lucky for me I had the materials I needed on hand.. yup, I’m an Artful parent.. why else would I have clay on hand?!
The book provides a range of activities which explore different materials accompanied by project examples so that families can collect the materials and either follow the instructions directly or simply use the activity as inspiration. The latter is what interested V. She wanted to get her hands dirty like Maia’s (in the picture) but she had her own ideas about what she wanted to make. She randomly chose to make a turtle!
V: “But I don’t know what a turtle looks like?!” So we looked up ‘turtle‘ on google images, she chose one as her model (a cartoon version!) and got off creating! Our clay (being a bit old) was tough, so I watered it down and tried softening it by throwing it against the table to get the air pockets out. Once our clay was ready she created the shell body and was set to attach the head, legs and tail.
This was a good opportunity to teach her about scoring when attaching clay parts so that the pieces would have something to hold on to. Using the scoring tool (a fork or pencil would work just as well) she carved a cross hatch design on the surfaces of the clay to be attached and wet them both a tiny bit, then gently squeezed the adjoining pieces together.
I went off to do something else and came back to her getting really fancy with decorating her turtle’s shell…
Apparently she decided this would be a leatherback sea turtle!
Although we’ve had the clay in our cupboard since before Christmas, it took a little bit of inspiration to remind us to pull it out and make something. The Artful Parent book is FULL of inspiration!
Win a copy of The Artful Parent Book!
I’m excited that I have a copy to giveaway!
To enter for a chance to win leave a comment here sharing your favourite artful memory as a child! I’d also love to hear how you parent artfully already or what you would like to improve upon in that area. Simple as that!
Giveaway details: You must have a Canadian or U.S. address to win. Deadline for entries is Monday April 8th, 2013, 11pm EST, one day before the book is officially released! Please include your email address so I can reach you if you win! Winner will be chosen randomly.
For additional chances to win you can:
Each time you do one of the above, leave a comment here letting me know. Good luck!
Thank you for reading and supporting Keeping Creativity Alive! I hope that I will have more opportunities to offer giveaways to you in the future as well!
* Disclosure: I received two copies of The Artful Parent book – one to review (and keep) and one to giveaway! All opinions expressed are my own.
Follow The Artful Parent Blog Tour
March 18 – Tinkerlab – activity demonstration + giveaway
March 25 – Handmade Charlotte – feature post
March 26 – Playful Learning – activity demonstration
March 28 – Nurture Store – feature post + giveaway
March 30 – Make and Takes – feature post
April 1 – Red Ted Art – book review + giveaway
April 2 – Kids Activity Blog – interview + giveaway
April 3 – Pink and Green Mama – feature post
April 4 – Peas & Carrots Studio – interview
April 8 – Not Just Cute – feature post
April 9 – Creative with Kids – interview
April 10 – Imagination Tree – book review
April 11 – Let’s Lasso the Moon – parent & child book review
April 14 – Teach Preschool – activity demonstration + review + giveaway
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ETA:
Thank you to everyone entered The Artful Parent book giveaway!
Congratulations to our winner, Kristal! I hope this book inspires many artful memories for your family! I’ll be in touch via email!
