My daughter has to do a life orientation poster all about herself and she has to do it in class, without her mommy! So, of course the control freak inside of me has to step away and let her do it, right?
Well yes and no. We all use what is called structured memory to create new master pieces and often you have to get the bad ideas out before the good ones happen. The very notion that a child age 9 is going to hand in her best work after one try of planning and presenting is simply ludicrous. Now, I know what you are thinking, this mom needs to get a life! Lol, it is a warranted thought, but just hear me out. Most creative or clever ideas only really develop after many thrown away rough sketches or layouts or concepts. I really think we are missing an amazing opportunity to teach our children that a project or assignment requires a lot of behind the scenes effort. You need to do research, steal with your eyes, decide what you like and what could work and what won’t. Then you need get your own ideas down on paper, and those need to be shuffled and re-arranged until it all works. You can’t just simply cut out pictures, paste them with a few scribbles and expect it to be something amazing. But to be honest we are all of the opinion that they are only 9 and honestly who cares about a life skills poster! And yes, I do actually agree, don’t stay up 7 nights and a row working on this fun project. What am I saying then? let’s teach our children from a young age that everything in life that is great took time, resources, research and hard work.
So, yes I can’t help her in class, but what I can do is show her poster ideas, possible layout options, colour schemes, photos of herself. We can talk about the topics and she can decide on which creative direction she wants to take. The real opportunity of these school projects is to teach them the value of doing things properly, not to throw them dead with glitter glue, photos and colour paper and expect great results.
So perhaps I have a bit more time on my hands than you, so for all the mommies out there who silently agree with me, but honestly just want a moment to them selves while sipping on some wine… Why not just show them all these ideas that I have already saved. You can literally let them scroll and look while you sit back and savor the cabsav.
Full disclaimer, throwing glitter- anything on a project has my full support. Glitter makes everything better!
Happy projecting with these tips and ideas below.
- Let your child choose a colour scheme. A lot of kids don’t like posters and projects, so lets try and incorporate some of their favourite things – their favourite colour being the first. My daughter loves pastel colours, so she chose pastel purple and yellow.
- Discuss what information the project requires. Make sure your child understands each topic.
- Talk about basic layout ideas. Be sure not to tell them what to do, rather ask them what they think would work well. And then build on that. Here some ideas and inspiration.
- Make sure it all fits! If you need to paste pictures and write down information, make sure the photos are the correct size and that you have enough space on the poster to fit in all the required information.
- Prepare labels. Most schools allow for these to be printed out or created at home. Make a couple extra, just as back ups.
- Have fun, let your child make the final decisions (even though you do not think neon orange and purple work together ) and be supportive! Happy projecting!
I would love to hear from you! Please send me your thoughts!
MomindaMix 