“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
Thomas Merton
“The urge to draw must be quite deep within us, because children love to do it”
David Hockney
We are loving spending time together with our Ukrainian friends who have come to stay within our extended family.
The children are the same ages as our children and are fast becoming good friends.
Though we speak little Ukrainian and they little English, what we have found is that the children forge their friendship through the things that they do understand. A love of messy water play, joy in bubbles, an appetite for pancakes, pizza and summer berries, solving puzzles, dancing, dinosaurs and playing outside.
We have also learned that all the children ages 5 – 12 speak Harry Potter!
One activity that brings us all together is art. We have had a wonderful game of pictionary, painted beautiful pictures and drawn portraits of one another. The children make loom band bracelets for each other and love sitting together working on craft projects. One evening we had an arty party with art challenge cards in English and Ukrainian for the children to try.
Art is such a huge part of our home education. We love reading picture books and then creating our own art inspired by the stories and illustrations.
All the children and Daddy love drawing, painting, crafting, creating, sculpting, shaping. They can turn nothing into something and I am in awe of their creativity and talents. Art is a wonderful escape, a release and a wonderful way for children to process big emotions. It is also just A LOT of fun.
We have now learned that art is a universal language. It helps us to connect without any need for writing or speaking. It helps us to make friends and share special moments with them. Much like books and stories.
In honour of forging friendships through art, play and stories, here are some of our favourite art stories.
Is your favourite fictional art book here? Swipe through the slides above to see.
Watch out for our favourite art fact and activity books coming soon.
“Every child is an artist.”
Pablo Picasso