Dragons and Crayons
The Disney movie Pocahontas came out in the summer of 1995. I remember this because that same year my parents bought me a Pocahontas coloring book that I would carry around with me to preschool along with a fistful of ragged crayons. I loved it because it gave me the autonomy to create something of my own artistically, even though I couldn’t yet draw very well.
So when I was asked to plan something small and fun for the kids, I was excited to share my passion for art by setting up a coloring activity. The big kids at Buddings have been well-acquainted with dragons for some time now, reading dragon stories and making dragon sock puppets with Johanna. What could be better, I thought, than a coloring page featuring even more dragons? Armed with a black marker and some paper, I sat down to create some dragons.
As it turns out, I still couldn’t draw very well. Because when I proudly presented Lucie with her very own dragon, she said “Oh, look, it’s a unicorn!” Ouch. Fair enough – I suppose I could see her point. My dragon had a long horse-like snout and what I had intended to be a reptilian crest looked more like a mane. To her credit, Lucie didn’t put up a fight when I informed her that it was, in fact, a dragon. Like many other kids at Buddings, Lucie loved coloring but wasn’t really interested in being told which colors she had to use. Ignoring my suggestions, here is her lovely rendering:
Ava is another girl who participated in this activity. She gamely followed the color key provided on the picture, but with her own twist. Not content with selecting just one green crayon, she decided to use all the greens she could find! When I asked her why she chose to go this route, she explained that she didn’t want to use up any one shade of green in case there would be none left for the other children… Instead, she divided the burden between multiple shades. I thanked her for being so considerate. Here is her picture:
Moa is the third little girl who took part in the coloring. In contrast to Lucie and Ava, Moa consulted me on precisely which colors to use. I gave her the selections I had in mind, but told her to do whatever she liked. Here is the dragon that she colored so very prettily:
The thing I love about art is that it allows you to materialize whatever your imagination comes up with. It is a medium by which children can form, process and toy with new ideas and concepts. I am overjoyed to have had the chance to share this part of me with the kids, and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next time they take crayons to paper.
