Food sculptures

All of this talk of food, nutrition and teaching our children, reminded me of something my sister had written a while back.  She has graciously agreed to ‘guest post’ here.  What a powerful lesson in modeling to our children and yet also holding expectations lightly and allow them to express themselves artistically in an open-ended, oftentimes abstract way.  Finding that balance between modeling how to do something and allowing them to explore and discover for themselves is an art.  This is definitely a skill I’m still working on…


I’m also reminded to be grateful for the mothers who have gone before us and the wisdom they have to offer.  I have several women like this in my life and am better off because of their love, insight and friendship.

When I read about this activity on Heather’s blog, I wanted to do it immediately in spite of E’s age (2.5 years old) and inability to accurately recreate the play-doh food, and I was encouraged by a note my mother-in-law sent me around that time that said,

“When I saw the precious picture of Evangeline painting, I instantly thought of something I learned somewhere in my reading when Arthur was new. It is really nothing you haven’t heard but made me keenly realize the power of modeling in a child’s development. The story, as well as I can recollect, was about a classroom where the teacher was instructing her students to make simple clay structures like balls and snakes and coiled baskets. One of her students wasn’t engaged but she dismissed it, thinking it was due to his learning disabilities. Later, she brought in a guest artist who spent a fair amount time in front of the children, not talking about his work, but actually working in the clay in a masterful way. The mentally slow child drank it all in, and soon got another opportunity to work in clay again without the previous parameters. Everyone was amazed at how he fashioned the clay with confidence and dexterity, though obviously as a novice and not a master. He had picked up some technique but more so, passion. Now this only happened because the boy had an inclination toward 3-D expression, granted. But how vital it was for him to see a master at work to even begin to unlock his potential.”

I went ahead with the activity, and it actually morphed into a delightful time for the both E and me. First, I pulled out our real-food samples. We talked about each one, whether it was a fruit or vegetable, it’s color and it’s shape. Then, E selected the color-appropriate play-doh and I made replicas and she made abstract versions of the produce. We discussed the difference between real and fake food, and she even sneaked a taste of the play-doh to prove to herself it was fake. We ended with a mini feast of the real stuff.

Bethany
attorney turned stay-at-home mom of two kiddos (2.5 years and 15 months old), loving wife, crafter extraordinaire, fashion consultant (to me, anyways), best-friend sister to two of us!