Creativity

Where Does It Start

Creativity was always encouraged when

I was growing up.  There were always bits

of fabric, felt squares, embroidery floss, glue,

construction paper and pipe cleaners.  Being

creative was always a way of life for me.

My friend Claudia from Germany posted a

photo of a little knitting loom on her blog

yesterday.  I dug around in my old craft stuff

and found the one shown above from when I

was a little girl.  I would spend hours making

yarn tubes, then I would sew them together to

make little rugs for my dolls.  Of course, I never

played much with dolls because I was off being

creative.  For my kids, there was always the Busy

Box.  We had a craft table in our family room where

the kids could create and the Busy Box was stored

beneath it.  My brother, in typical my brother fashion,

would send out bags of buttons and boxes of craft

sticks and chenille stems and industrial size jars of

glitter.  I may never forgive the glitter...  And my

kids and their friends would spend hours creating.

While I was going through my craft

stuff I came upon this potholder loom.

In the suburban town I grew up in, every

neighborhood had a park and in the summer

the town hired people to teach arts & crafts

and have games and contests.  I probably

 made hundreds of potholders in my childhood. 

(What did my Mom do with them all?)

Back then, there was no hanging around

 all day in front of the tv. 

We were all out playing ... and creating.

Encourage creativity in the kids you know.

Hey, I just heard from Claudia in Germany.

In her country the little loom is called a

Strickliesel.  We don't know what it is called

in English though, anyone know?