Oli ... the potato carving is a great idea! Don't even get me started on the structured art projects ... it does have its place for fine motor skills but they are more concerned with staying in the lines that the child's creativity is overlooked. Your story of your daughter's reaction saddens me. I will never forget substitute teaching for a kindergarten class. One of the jobs was to assist the teacher. We were putting together those famous mother's day presents and I came across this one little girl's who had such energy and volume in her figures. It took my breath away, but the teacher saw it as chaos and annoying because the child wouldn't reform. Yep ... the teacher got an ear full from me. She saw it as scribble but the child had such control of her scribble and was drawing these beautiful elongated figures. She was telling a story and it excited me.
And yes I was thinking of a thread for all ... we are always stumbling around for ideas and I would love to see what others have tried. As for the fear of using something more than kid based paint that is washable ... it really comes down to your child. As long as you are comfortable that she won't put it in her mouth it opens the door to a lot of possibilities. I know that Michael's sells some art kits for older kids which includes crayons but also oil pastels, markers, paint, etc. It's a good start. DD got one for christmas and a big package of little canvases which excited her. I find a fun project is doing multimedia: Collage, gesso, markers, etc. It really is about just letting go. I will definitely open a thread so more people will jump in with ideas.
