Program delivery at St. Francis Xavier was an enjoyable and inspiring experience. The children’s imagination and originality was beautiful to witness. This year, they were given activities that were focused on the five senses.

A few of the children found new ways of interacting with the plasticine by pressing it onto their crocs. One in particular really enjoyed doing an imprint of the Minecraft logo on their shoes. They kept sharing ways to fill their pages and used the terms I talked about such as “imprint”. It was lovely to see how quickly they learned and how much they enjoyed the process.

During the end of an activity focused on sight, one of the children liked the shape of the cardboard frames. After he had completed the activity, he wore them on his shoes. I was surprised when I saw this and was intrigued by his thought process. Other children joined him as well. I wanted to encourage this out of the box thinking by offering him some markers to make it look like his actual shoes. I hope that my time with them encouraged a sense of freedom when approaching art, rather than forcing boxed thinking. Creativity should feel fun!

During the final week of programming, we did a drawing activity encouraging imagination. One child explained to me that they drew a cross in the sky. Another child told me that they were drawing their family. It’s beautiful to see their beliefs and what they care about show up or translate into art. Another child drew a large pool for everyone to use because of the summer heat. Some children decided to take a more realistic approach by drawing a thunderstorm because it was pouring outside on this specific day. What they care about and notice matters and it often shows up in what they create. They put such a great level of care and thought into every aspect of their artworks.

Thank you to all the educators and staff members that interacted and collaborated with me throughout the several weeks. I am thankful for their assistance with keeping the children focused and engaged.