Our First Invitation to Create - Mother Goose Time

This year Mother Goose Time made some changes to their curriculum.  I think they probably make small changes every year, but this is the first changes I have seen.  I will be going over more of these changes as the month goes by, but we are going to start with the most noticeable change.

The biggest change is from product based arts to process based arts.  This completely goes against my way of thinking.  Apparently I am in the minority, because the new Invitations to Create were gladly received by most people. 

This month our topic is Me and My Family, and today we were talking about brothers and sisters.  The book we read was Owl Babies, which is about owl siblings, so our owl art project fit perfectly. 

An Invitation to Create doesn't have an example.  You put up the inspiration (the owl picture today) and set out the art supplies, and then just let them do whatever they want.  They do provide questions that you can ask to encourage them to use different materials in different ways, but overall it is just whatever they feel like doing.  Really, really not my thing, I much prefer to have a goal.  Something to strive towards.  Either way, this year, Mother Goose Time is focusing on the process, so Little Guy and I are as well. 

I made a mistake when I was editing pictures for this post and got rid of the set up one...  It was a little fuzzy so I guess I deleted it without realizing I didn't have a better one...

We were given black paper, a paper bag, and cotton balls to work with.  Sticks were suggested as an optional add-in, but that would involve gathering sticks, which would be a great job for a three year old if we didn't live on a busy street.  So no sticks for us. I put out a cup of brown paint, and a cup of glue (I thought I would retain a lot more glue in the bottle if he was painting it on rather than having way to much fun squirting it out!).  Process or product focused art, we are using the correct colors!  We talked a little about what we saw in the picture, and he said the owls had "sharp eyes". 

Since we were focusing on the process, not the product, he discovered that it was a lot of fun to scoop up the paint on the paintbrush and drip it on the paper. 

His picture looks NOTHING like owls.  It looks like cotton balls glued onto black paper.  He completely ignored the paper bag, other than a splotch or two of paint.  Oh well, not all of us can be artists (I am certainly not, unless there is a sudden appreciation for disproportionate stick figures!).  He did know what he made, which was nice.  Often times he just scribbles stuff and calls it good.  Apparently each of the cotton balls was an owl with "sharp eyes", and the one with a little fluff sticking out was an owl with "fluffy ears".

I am not sure what I will end up thinking of the Invitations to Create, but there is one giant plus side to this method: I don't have to micromanage it.  At three he isn't really capable of making things look they way they should on his own.  I need to help him a lot.  Today I was able to feed the baby while he did his art.  I like the independence it encourages, and the freedom to do dishes it will provide me.

*Little Guy and I get this great curriculum free of charge in exchange for sharing our experiences.  All opinions are my own!*