"Let them be bored."

When I was growing up, I spent many, MANY, hours at my father's veterinarian office. My mother and sister both worked there as well (think after school, summer vacation, winter break, etc). I didn't have a babysitter (well, everyone that worked for my dad was somewhat of a babysitter to me), ipod, laptop, or nintendo ds. I did have imagination and boredom. I remember being so bored (why I never thought to bring my toys up there, I have no idea?) that the only thing I could do was invent something to do. I made books out of copy paper, jewelry out of dog's rabies tags, stuffed animals using tongue depressors and gauze, and water guns from horse size syringes. I even became a little entrepreneur when I sold drawings of stars for a dime to all the employees (I personalized them with their names after they paid). 

What made me think of this was a blog post I saw on another art teacher's blog. She came upon an interesting article in Parents Magazine called "Parents Creativity Pledge" which encourages parents to promote creativity in their kids by implementing some simple strategies.

 Click the image to download your copy of the pledge.

It's never to late to be creative!