Baltimore County, MD smARTS, 28 Dec 2018

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From YouTube: Art Projects with the Kids

Description

Trisha Chason, Baltimore County Arts Guild.

A

Looking for ideas on how to help your children think creatively?

A

trisha chason from the baltimore county arts guild has some fabulous ideas.

A

trisha welcome to smarts.

B

Thank you for having me.

A

Okay, well, first of all,: why is it important? Do you think to make sure that your kids are thinking creatively.

A

And how young does that start??

A

Well, I would say: two, three, four.

B

You want to start giving them ways to develop creative problem solving skills.

B

Because there's a long time before abstract thought.

B

And we need to have the creative problem solving already well under way, so that they can then get into fields like science and engineering, become doctors and computer. Programmers.

B

And things like that, and they need those creative problem, solving skills for all those things,, not everyone is gonna, become a painter or a dancer when they...

A

So we're not thinking correctly, if we think oh well, you've got the arts here and then that means that child's gonna go to the arts. But if you're science..., [trisha] no, absolutely not.

B

They feed into each other. right,, some of the top researchers,, some of the top doctors and scientists and engineers. All you would see they are musicians,.

B

They're painters, they're sculptors, so the learning to think in a multiple directions,.

B

Not just be a linear thinker,, the way that you're learning through visual things, through oral things,, so you're developing a repertoire, developing a strength and resilience about dealing with challenges, about figuring out how to go next,.

B

I wanna try to do this and it's not working out, and so how can I figure out what to do next and make another plan? And maybe the end goal changes a little bit? Too. learning those types of skills..., and you learn that through the arts??

B

Yes, you learn that, through trying to make up a dance for your friends or trying to you, know, draw a picture or build a model of a house out of sticks in the backyard or these are the kinds of things, trying to build a tree house and trying to come up with ways to make a play about something that your struggling with,.

B

So all these different kinds of things. song, lyrics and poetry,- that's all working out these different problems,.

B

These things you're struggling with and a lot of times we're training children.

B

With things that has an answer,, you know two plus two is four,, and so we need to start training very young for things that don't have an answer, because right now...

A

[Carolyn] life doesn't work that way. exactly the world of work has evolved significantly since we began.

B

Putting children into school and so now there's a whole series of things that we don't know. The answer to and we're gonna need our young people to be able to solve problems about the environment, and about medicine, about the human body,, about social problems that we have, and so we need to have them develop this strong sense of coming back to it again.

B

And again, even if something doesn't work, the first time or the second time.

A

Alright well, you've sold me on that.. I didn't need to be sold, but perhaps many of our listeners did so now we need some advice.

A

And ideas, because I think a lot of parents have their kid's time structured, they send them off to camps or to these different classes or to practices.

A

And things where the parents aren't involved, so if the parents want to take more of a role in this and create this kind of environment,, can you give me some specifics, some ideas?.

B

So one thing is to get out of your comfort zone a little bit and let your children go out of their comfort zone a little bit. So maybe sometimes there would be a camp or a weekend.

B

Or coming to the baltimore county arts guild has a second saturdays, program.

A

[Carolyn], what happens at the second saturdays?.

B

All different kinds of art making. so usually we'll look at some kind of art, inspiration or maybe we'll look at some sort of outdoor thing, nature as inspiration.

B

And then we'll do a variety of things, we'll play with different kinds of materials,, we'll do print making,, we'll make sculptures out of things from the recycling bin,, we'll paint, we'll do things where we're going out with photosensitive paper and looking at shadows and creating images.

A

So folks, wanna know more about second saturdays. They can just go on the baltimore county arts guild website.. They can., okay, so you're gonna help guide, us, or baltimore county arts guild in that event,.

A

But if you're at home, with your child and you're thinking, okay, it's a saturday and I wanna do something to help foster this sense of creativity,. What are some things we can do at home??

A

Can you give me some specific ideas? right so there's so many things that you can do.

B

And the first thing is to be open to experimenting with materials yourself, and if you don't feel comfortable having a mess in your house, then doing things outside can be very fun and it doesn't take a lot of money or some kind of special thing..

A

Just be creative on your own., just laying in the ground looking at the clouds.

B

And what do you see and what do they look like and looking at things around you, the leaves are falling down, making patterns with the leaves, doing rubbings, with the leaves, building things out of sticks..

B

Can you make a little family out of something you find in the back yard?? You know, let's go for a walk,.

B

Let's see what we see,, let's collect, something,, let's collect seeds,, let's collect pods,, let's look at the different shapes., so developing visual acuity and developing a sense of play is really important.

B

To help develop those creative problem, solving skills.

A

Oh yeah: well, it's terrific and I encourage folks to take all your advice. Today,.

A

Check out the baltimore county arts guild, cause, they do offer all this activity and guidance and you're part of that organization.

A

So I'm sure you'll be there to add a little bit more,.

A

But thank you so much and I'm gonna think about how I can go play now. Too.

B

Yeah, it's not just for kids,. You know, adults get a great benefit from participating in and having play.

A

And great way of bonding with your child.

B

Exactly. alright! Well, thank you! So much. you're welcome.

A

Alright, I'm carolyn black-sotir, and this is smarts, the baltimore county arts and culture show.