Wednesday, 8 April 2015

1 rainbow, 1 blue sky, 1 bright sun, 3 friends and a new neighbour



I was never too into birds until I saw the rainbow lorikeet for the first time after I moved to Australia. I was immediately captivated by their beauty and thought they were the most beautiful creature in the world. They are not shy at all. I know that because I have had firsthand experience being befriended by them. They were perching on the balcony balustrade singing to me one morning and after leaving a piece of bread with a sprinkle of sugar on a plate for them, we instantly became best friends! Almost every day I would find them perching on the same spot singing to me and waiting for me to feed them.

Children love birds; they love to read stories about birds; they draw birds; they pretend to be birds and fly and chirp like them; they lie on the mat to watch birds fly around; and they try to look for their nests on the trees.

When creating my Draw and Tell series I didn’t have to think twice about writing a story using a bird as the main character. I purposely used triangles and an oval shape to draw Robin and the letter C to create the feather because I want parents to realise how easy it is to draw and tell a story. I also want parents to realise that their children don’t have to be like Picasso to be able to draw a picture that touches someone.

Let me share with you my experience with a 3 years old girl. She felt extra special that daddy dropped her off at daycare but after daddy left she missed him so much that she was teary the whole morning until she started painting on the easel. When I asked her to tell me what the painting was she pointed at a patch of yellow in the middle and said “this is daddy, he is a diamond. I am painting this for my daddy”. The week prior we had set up an activity with different plastic diamonds and children were fascinated with the shape of the diamonds and how it seemed to sparkle when you hold them up in the light. They were told that real diamonds are precious. You see, this little girl didn’t paint a Picasso and the painting looked like a lot of scribbles; but she had found a way to express her emotion by painting a diamond to represent her daddy because she wanted him to know that he is precious like a diamond to her and that she missed him. When I told her dad the story behind her painting, he was very touched by what her little girl had done for him. Since then, children’s paintings and drawings have a totally new meaning to me. I highly recommend you to spend a few minutes listening to your children the stories behind their drawings or paintings. It is also a great opportunity to find out what your children are thinking about or are going through that you are not aware of.

I decided to provide Draw and Tell Robin as a FREE eBook because I want parents to be able to experience what draw and tell is about and how simple and effective it is to draw and tell a story. I want parents to draw with their children and I want children to use their drawing to tell a story.

Many parents around the world have downloaded Draw and Tell Robin and I hope you will too. Simply visit www.rainbowballs.com.au  You may also like to download “how to draw and tell Robin” and “Draw and Tell follow up activities” which are also available for FREE.

I would love to hear from you. If you would like to tell me how you and your children may have benefited from drawing and telling Robin together please inbox me a message on facebook www.facebook.com/officialRainbowballs

Happy reading and drawing!

Chirp chirp...till next time....
Simone

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