Experiencing and Observing the Growth in Creativity

By Carol Woolum Roberts

This week Paul and I are spending our mornings helping eight 10–13-year-olds explore their creativity.

Monday the emphasis was Art.  They are learning our camp “theme song,” based on the song “I Get by With A Little Help With My Friends”.  In just three days, we have kids playing this song on the guitar, ukulele, piano, xylophone, steel drum, bongos, box drum and other percussion instruments.  Plus singing along and learning the words.

Tuesday was a day full of Art. Their first project was taking a blank canvas and creating anything they wanted on it, using acrylic paints, and any other item they wanted to glue on it.  Later in the morning they were given a more specific art assignment where they could use only two colors and had to use specific patterns.

Theater Day was on Wednesday.  We saw many different personalities emerge as they learned how to use the three parts of theater, their voice, their body, and their imagination!

Thursday is Storytelling, and Friday will be a culmination of all the areas with a “Gallery Day” presentation for friends and family on Friday.

The students have also participated in Awareness Walks, where they collected things like leaves, flowers and rocks.  They have been asked to think about how the world was created, and making that connection with The Creator. 

We have made our own Spotify Camper playlist of some of their favorite music.  Each day they listen to music and write or draw their response to the music.  Their own time of Sowing Seeds.

Each day this community of eight students, Paul and myself become closer, and the campers are willing to take more risks.  We see more smiles and laughter, and more overall engagement.

And we are definitely seeing each camper’s creativity grow throughout the week.

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We asked this question to our campers and would like you to answer it as well.  Of these four areas, Music, Art, Theater or Storytelling, which area do you enjoy the most, and why?

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