Funday Friday: Tabletop Mural

 Ah, the last Friday before Labor Day. Most schools here begin after the long weekend and we will begin our own homeschool activities as well after squeezing in a quick weekend family trip to celebrate the end of summer. Some days just call for a little low key child-led fun. Fridays tend to be days like that in this and many Jewish homes as we get ready for Shabbat, and when you add packing and preparing for a family trip to that mix, turning on a great children's show or video can seem like the only option to keeping your sanity. It may very well be on our agenda today as well, but first I'm turning to one of my very favorite rainy-day or busy-day fixes: tabletop murals. I first set out this activity early in the summer when an unexpected very rainy day soaked out our plans of visiting the park and pool. Using a roll of white craft paper I keep on hand (this is one of those items on my mommy must-have list), I completely covered our dining room table. I set a different art medium in front of each of the chairs, turned on some music, let my son choose his first seat, have at it and rotate as he felt ready. He had so much fun with this that at dinner time, we set out some placemats on top and kept it up and running for the remainder of the week for him to revisit and add to. I had some fun as well by the end of it and when Friday afternoon rolled around, my husband decided it looked nice enough to cover with a clear vinyl table protector and use as our Shabbos tablecloth! Our son felt so proud that his artwork was decorating the Shabbos table and as a mom who would love to save every little scribble but recognizes the impossibility and impracticality of this, displaying his work in this way for that time felt like a wonderful way to honor the time and effort he spent.
This week rather than setting out specific materials at each spot, I allowed my son to choose a material he wanted to use and bring it to the table to use. Open-ended art activities like this are some of my very favorite. Process art is hugely beneficial for children in developing creativity, confidence and mastery of a variety of skills. What I call "cookie cutter projects," those with a specific goal and purpose, also have their place in my home and classrooms. It is important to develop skills in following directions and there is something quite quaint about a child-created duck that resembles a duck. Still, I feel that the most important art opportunities you can give a young artist--particularly one who may feel reluctant to participate in art projects or insecure in performing them "correctly," is the gift of free art or process art. In these settings, the child is given a specific material or set of materials or even just access to materials he or she can choose. The young artist decides how to use the materials and self-directs the process entirely. I am careful in these settings both as a parent and teacher to limit value-laden observations--even ones of praise, and rather to focus comments on purely objective observation. For example, I might say "I notice you are using the creamy crayons to make long lines" or "I see you're making a lot of brown dots with the dot markers in this area," rather than "what a beautiful picture you're drawing," or "that looks like a flower!" My intention is to validate his experience and process by noticing it rather than applying my own external value to it.
For some alternative extensions to this activity, you might:

• turn on music and play a game of musical artistic chairs! When the music stops, the artist switches spots and begins with a new material or brings the previous material to a new area to continue working
• make your tabletop mural theme related for a holiday or special event by focusing on specific colors, using stickers or gluing on shapes or pictures related to the occasion
• make a special picture in each spot specifically for the family member or guest who will sit there in lieu of place cards
• save your child's finished art to reuse as wrapping paper, book covers, homemade greeting cards, or to cut/tear and reuse in collage

Happy Playing & Creating!