On Monday I read an interview with Shirley, creator of Muse Retreats, in which she talks, amongst many things, about how adults lose the confidence to play and be creative that they once had as children (thank you The Salted Tail, for the post!)
This morning I had coffee with a friend, and we were discussing our various creative pursuits. She has recently started pottery classes and said something I found really interesting: ‘With sewing you start with fabric, with knitting you start with wool, but with pottery, you just start with, well, mud!’ And its true. The form your creation takes needn't follow rules or a set pattern, it can just grow from your imagination. And if you don't like it, you can scrunch it up and start again. How liberating!
 |
| The calm before...the five year olds! |
It got me thinking about my grandchildren’s recent birthday party. It was in the village hall, and my daughter-in-law had hired in someone to set up a circuit of crafting and messy play activities. The children were completely absorbed and it was strangely calm for a 2 and 5 year olds birthday party! After a while, though, the children moved away to throw, kick and whop each other with balloons, but their parents…they continued to be completely absorbed. Squishing play dough, pouring water through funnels onto drowning dinosaurs, listening to beans and lentils tipping through plastic pipes into metal dishes and, best of all, exploring the strange and seemingly magical properties of ‘gloop’. If the adults there had thought about what they were doing - indulging in sensory, messy play - they probably would have quickly become self-conscious and embarrassed. But because they were ostensibly there with their children, it didn't matter, and they had a lovely, messy time.
 |
| Gloop! |
So this week’s Cheap Thrill - mix 2 or 3 tablespoons of cornflour with about the same amount of water and play with it. It defies belief the way this mixture behaves.
I know there is a rational scientific explanation (thixotropy, apparently) but ignore that - its magic! Gloop…joy, pure joy!
No comments:
Post a Comment