A Spring Burst of Creativity

I reckon spring must finally be here. Not because of any great change in the weather, but because the boys have had a sudden burst of creativity. Gman has been designing his own board game, which I am pleased to report uses a hexagonal patterned board . I am sure he will be writing about it soon on his blog. Waif has been drawing more of his intricate little maps:

Waif has also written his first poem in a very long time. I am impressed with its rhythm and layout, but wonder if the subject matter reflects too much science fiction?!

Does spring inspire new bursts of creativity in you or your children?

Waif’s Holiday ICADS

I promised I would share the boys’ holiday ICADS. Still catching up on the scanning, but have done all of Waif’s (although the time saving idea of scanning them together has resulted in some upsidedown-ness for which I apologise most humbly )

Happy Birthday, Dalai Lama!

Marking the Dalai Lama’s 77th birthday, today is Compassion Day:

Ever since we first read Demi’s lovely picture book telling the life story of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, the boys have been quite fascinated by him. I think it was finding out that, as a child, he was really quite mischievous and liked to take things apart to see how they worked!

Anyway, Waif has written another of his poems in honour of the occasion:

Peaceful monks

Very kind

A monks mind

Is always kind

A robe red

The Buddha said

Peace

Barely cease

Meditation

Buddha Meditate

Tuesday nights in our house are known as “Mum’s Buddha Night” – when I desert the family to go to a Buddhist meditation & study group. Last night I came home to find Waif had created this little picture and poem and left it beside the bed:

Here’s the poem (corrected for spellings ) – must do some work on the difference between where and wear!)

Buddha Meditate

Buddha is calm
Peace
Wears a robe
Meditate peacefully
Quiet
Closing eyes.

Didn’t he do a great job?

I am a bit wary of foisting religious beliefs onto my children, but do share with them any teachings that might be useful to them and make their lives easier and calmer. To that end we are reading together Thich Nhat Han’s book “A Pebble for Your Pocket“, which is a very gentle introduction to mindfulness for children.  It’s a lovely book – one that I would recommend to those of any faith or no faith, child or adult.

Noses, Medals, Fists & Peanut Butter

So, in answer to the question of “where to?”, here’s the answer “who nose?”

The boys too have been joining in on the index card challenge.

It has given me pause for thought.

Has Waif really taken on board the non-competitive family ethos with his medals poem?:

And would you know that Gman’s mama was a great believer in a non-violent approach?:

Still, at least they both appreciate good food! Here’s Waif’s favourite chilli relish (made by local firm Chillis Galore):

And Gman has drawn his favourite thing in the world – peanut butter!:

Flowery Verse

Today’s May Flower Challenge post comes courtesy of seven-year-old Waif, who has been penning more flower related poetry.  Here’s his Plants Poem:

 

And “Roses”:

He has also written two more nature-related poems this week. “The Water”:

And, my favourite so far, “The River”:

Waif has just discovered the word “shroud” and seems to like it!!

Gman has also been putting pen to paper and has written a poem about trees. You can read it over on his blog.

On Mina, Boys, Education & Poetry

I think we all felt somewhat sad this week to have finished reading the really rather delightful My Name is Mina. This book, more than any other, seems to have sparked a creativity in the boys, most especially in Waif. Although he has been a fluent reader for some time, he has never really been interested in writing. However, with this book, that has changed and he has been writing stories and poems like they’re going out of fashion! Whereas Gman did go to school until the age of 8, Waif has never been to school and I think that, as a result, his style of learning is a lot more fluid and organic, and he seems less worried about “shoulds” and conventions. In addition, he has been exposed to “real” books and poetry (in the last month for example, we have read poetry by Lewis Carroll, Mary Oliver, Basho, Ryokan, William Blake – possibly not what 7 year olds at school are reading!) rather than textbooks and books written with particular curriculum-focused goals in mind (lol – I originally typed that as gaols – possibly rather fitting?!)

Anyway, here are a few poems he has written:

“Peace is”:

(my favourite line – “peace hasn’t got any shouting”)

“Spring”:

“Sandy Land Poem”:

And two odes to Corny (Gman’s pet corn snake):

I do wonder if a seven year old boy in a school setting would have the same freedom to write? If he would be teased by his peers for his love of flowers? If his poetry would be corrected so that it followed more “shoulds” and conventions? I don’t know, but I do know I am enjoying this new development

Signing up for the May Flower Challenge

Ooh, an exciting new challenge!  It’s the May Flower Challenge, over on Lori Moon Studio’s blog.  The idea is to do something to do with flowers throughout May – I’m thinking drawing flowers, painting them, photographing them, writing poems about them…and the boys are joining in too.

I enjoyed the Index-Card-A-Day Challenge last summer over at Daisy Yellow, so thought I might create a month of flower-themed index card art.  Here’s the first:

Waif wrote a poem about flowers:

Don’t you just love the idea that flowers are giving hugs to bugs?!

We then spent some time gathering dandelion flowers ready to make some dandelion massage oil:

Waif is pretty pleased with it:

We now have to wait six weeks for the dandelion flowers to infuse the oil, before removing them and refrigerating the oil. Apparently it will be very good for aching muscles!

Gman has joined in by taking photographs of flowers – I expect these will pop up on his blog any day now! Edited: yep, here they are!

More Fun with Mina

As I thought, My Name is Mina is proving to be a source of lots of learning, and lots of fun.

Mina talks about different beliefs about death and the afterlife, which was a springboard for learning about funeral rites in different cultures. We read about historical views on the afterlife from the British Museum, and the boys did one of the suggested art activities, which was to design a tombstone for a historical or fictional character, including symbols related to their life. Gman did one for Bilbo Baggins (of Lord of the Rings):

Waif chose Buddha for his:

Mina also talks in the book about a Tibetan creation myth, whereby the universe emerges from an egg. This inspired some super pictures. Gman did two interpretations:

And here’s Waif’s interpretation, complete with all the planets:

Next stop: poetry. My Name is Mina is peppered with “extraordinary activities” for readers to do. One of these is to write a poem “that repeats a word and repeats a word and repeats a word and repeats a word and repeats a word until it almost loses its meaning. (It can be useful to choose a word that you don’t like, or that scares or disturbs you.)“  It’s a measure of how squeamish the boys are that Gman’s word was “fracture” and Waif’s was “needle”!! This is the first time Waif has written a poem and I think he did great:

If you’d like to read Gman’s poem, he has posted it on his own blog here: http://thebatamonblog.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/fractured-bone-poem/

I think it’s safe to say that we are enjoying this read and all the activities it has inspired.  Who needs a curriculum when you can be a free spirit like Mina?