The course of development of creativity began and continues in full force. Our wonderful children demonstrate their creative potential Creating new wonders each week. Here you can see photos of the creative process, brief descriptions of techniques and materials with which they work.

Art with toilet paper balls (photos)
This week we used a rather unconventional material – toilet paper. My idea was to show the children how the everyday object could be used in an unusual way. We ripped the paper in pieces which we made into small balls, wetted and coloured them and then glued them on the paper. Some children used a few balls and other covered all their paintings with them.

Shapes out of salty dough (25th – 27th Jan) (photos)

The salty dough is a wonderful material, from which could be made various shapes and figures, while the only problem could be that in order the figures to dry out well and not break, they should not be thick. It is very important to mix the salt, flour, water and oil into the right proportion, so that the dough will not only be soft, but also be plastic enough. Once during the classes in Vitoshka and Botev 2 we had to deal with ground sea-salt instead (by mistake I had been sold such in the shop), which is not good to do, as this kind of salt forms small lumps and the dough is not smooth. One should be careful also with the oil – not to use too much, since the dough becomes crumbly. The ideal proportion is as follows: 1 water glass of flour, 1 water glass of salt, 1 soup spoon of vegetable oil, ½ glass of water.
As I had assumed, it was a great pleasure for the children to mix, pour, knead, grind. The dough and the clay are very flexible and pleasant to work with and give you the urge to make something out of them, to give them shape (the thought just popped up my mind – is it that we give shape to them, or is it our imagination that we form into shapes?). The children could not resist the temptation and tried the dough no matter that I had warned them that it was too salty. So, it really turned out to be so but it is another thing to try it yourself!
With some of the groups we used shapes for cookies, and with others – pure imagination.

This week the children had the task to draw an imaginary animal. This task provokes children’s imagination and encourages them to explore their boundaries – where they could be lead, which point they can reach, leaving behind the perception of what is ‘real’, ‘genuine’, ‘existing’. The drawing of non-existing things opens the mind of children to the infinity of art, where there could not be found the opposition of real – unreal and where everything is possible. Such a task enables children to closely experience the world of ideas in which gravitation does not exist, because the operating laws there are different from the ones in the physical world. The only boundaries of the human’s brain are the ones in which he believes.
I was especially inspired by the drawings and the names which the children had given to their works of art during this activity. They made my humanitarian soul sing with mythological joy, because together with all the robots, machines, Bakugans, Star Rangers and many more, symbols of contemporary culture, I saw how in the drawings of the children makes its way something which I will call ‘mythological memory’, all of which according to me contains all the images, myths, fairytales etc. of human existence from ancient times till present.
Every lesson began with several games during which children were not only creating non-existing animals, but also they were doing this all together, in which way they were developing once again their skills to work in a team.

"Autumn leaves " (photos) 
    This week the kids worked out an autumn decoration for a room. They used autumn leaves, yarn, acorns, chestnuts, etc. One of the tasks was to make different prints of the autumn leaves.


"Clay work " (photos)
    The kids worked with clay, they could do anything they wanted, so they made a lot of cups, plates, clay hearts, sandwiches, kittens, ice cream etc. In one of the groups the children even worked out declarations made of clay. On the following week we coloured the products.

"A charcoal drawing" (photos)
       This week the children drew with unpressed charcoal on an embossed colour card stock. Working with charcoal, they got to know better the possibilities the charcoal gives – light and shade effects, drawing with art gum on the charcoal picture. The theme was “A flower vase”.

Clay wall panels (photos)
     This week’s task was to find interesting extraordinary use of traditional food. Thus we decorated clay wall panels with pasta, lentils, beans, soy-beans, poppy-seeds, sesame, plus yarn, cord, clams etc. The other task for this week was team work, so the children split up into two groups. Each of them made clay wall panels and doing so they all got the main idea of working in a team. The themes were – butterflies for the girls and a pirate’s flag for the boys. 

Making Christmas candlesticks and jar- or bottle- vases (photos)

Since Christmas was knocking on our door we decided to make Christmas candlesticks and vases. We used jars and bottles of wine. We stuck paper, ribbons, cord, beads, pasta, etc. on them.

Making Christmas cards (photos) 

We made cards of colour card stock, we cut out Christmas trees, Santa Claus’s figures, sleighs etc. from wrapping paper. For decoration we used ribbons, beads and lots of imagination.

Drawing with fruits (photos)

  The New Year has come and with it one of the most interesting techniques – drawing with fruit. Can you imagine that instead of a brush you can use a pear or a banana? No? Then try it and you’ll surely have a lot of fun. With fruit and vegetables you can make wonderful stamps, which when painted could form interesting prints. We tried to draw with potatoes, courgettes, bananas, apples, pomegranates, tangerines, oranges, plums and we were extremely satisfied with the results. And if there’s material left, you could eat it.