Tag Archives: creativity picture book
back to school with to make!
It’s back to school, and this time around I’ve got a new book to share!
That’s where author visits come in! One of my favorite things is spending time with children while helping them tap into their unique voices and imaginations, inspiring them to read, write, create, and make! You’ll find all the info about my offerings in one place right here.
If you’re part of a school or library community, I hope you’ll get in touch if you’d like to arrange one!
And whether or not I visit your students, I have something special to share with you for the school year ahead!
Jenna Rothberg, PhD (KidlitBrain) and JD Smithson, MLIS created “Everyone is a Maker”: A Classroom and Library Companion Guide for To Make! You can download it in either color or black and white for easy printing too!
This treasure of a curriculum guide is meant to support teachers, librarians, and caregivers as you support the makers in your classrooms, libraries, and homes too. A resource that’s a myriad of making and TO MAKE resources all in one place, like an online community booklist for us all to create together and so much else for children to make: conversation, games, a change with their community, a plant press, an invitation, and at its heart and throughout, a maker’s journal where every child can reflect on, record, and reinvigorate their identity and process as maker through each creative endeavor.
So much gratitude to the two makers who poured their hearts and talents into this to make a gift for educators to use and witness little makers grow and bloom. And it is certainly a gift for me as well.
Wishing every educator everything they need for the year ahead, with much appreciation for making a difference!
bob the artist + artsy beak craft + giveaway!
Bob the Artist by Marion Deuchars (2016).
This picture book is about creativity. About how it can solve problems in unexpected ways. About how—and this is the most important thing—it can solve a problem you’re having with yourself.
Filled with the signature creativity of its creator, this one’s fun and full of flair.
(click image(s) to enlarge)
Bob has long, skinny legs. (They are good for walking.) Bob likes them. But then, others tease him about those legs and his perception begins to change. He tries to alter his legs, to make himself different. (You might guess his attempts don’t work.)
So Bob does what he always does: goes for a walk.
I like that Bob goes for a walk. It seems simple enough, but it does so much. It shows how walking or movement or taking a break—I’m a firm believer in this—is integral to figuring stuff out.
His legs take him to an art museum, and there, he’s inspired (by Matisse! by Jackson Pollock!). Getting out of our own heads and experiencing something new often is inspiring, isn’t it?
Bob brings his attention from his legs to his beak: something he can change. But not because he doesn’t like it. Because his beak can be his canvas.
At the beginning, Bob is a bird with skinny legs. At the end, he is an artist. He discovers himself. And he discovers that a physical attribute others mock doesn’t make a lick of difference when he’s found what makes him really tick. And while that thing may be on the outside, it comes from the inside, from his own creativity.
Big thanks to Laurence King Publishing for images!
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Let’s design our own artsy beaks the way Bob did! They can double as party hats!
Marion Deuchars is all about encouraging kids to make art so that they can be artists—like the great masters, like her, and like Bob, so this craft fits the bill. (haha.)
What you need:
White cardstock
Pencil
Markers/crayons/colored pencils/paint
Tape (double-sided works best)
Scissors
A one hole punch
Elastic cord
Your artistic imagination!
First, cut out a party hat shape in cardstock (I loosely followed this template). After you test that it will wind up like a cone, lay it flat again and get creating. Draw whatever design you like. Then roll up the paper and tape it so the beak/hat sticks together. Then make a hole on each side and thread elastic through the holes. Tie the elastic through each hole and around it, making a knot. (Make sure the length of the elastic is just right to fit you or yours.) And, voila!
I hope you feel inspired like Bob!
Finally, Laurence King is generously giving away three copies of the book + a Bob the Artist tote bag to three lucky winners!