The Road to Pretend Play

The Road to Pretend Play

Written by Guest Blogger Kim Kuncl

Just when you thought it would never arrive… summer is finally here.

As a child I began my summer countdown around January 4, right after returning from Christmas
vacation. It was not that I did not enjoy school. I just enjoyed summer more, like most kids.
I grew up in a small town in a world without the onslaught of electronics. We did have an Atari
and a Nintendo. However, rather than “plugging in”, I preferred to go outside – finding
adventure on my family’s acreage. I used my imagination. I expressed my creativity. I engaged
in pretend play.

With a homemade headband and my “ugly green” lasso of truth, I became Wonder Woman (my
all-time favorite heroine). I saved my pony Trixie from an onslaught of evil sheep invaders
(Trixie was kept in a corral with a family of sheep). Or I saved the world from the evil brothers
of doom and gloom (my younger siblings) as I dodged their attack of dirt clods with my tin foil
bracelets.

Now this may sound – ho-hum boring; However, I had a lot of fun using my imagination by
engaging in pretend play. As an adult I still engage in pretend play, teaching acting classes for
children as well as writing fiction for myself.

Today’s society seems so structured and planned, that it is a rarity for children to participate in
simple pretend play games. It may sound old-fashioned, but there are a lot of entertaining and
fun games children can play just by using their imagination – whether it involves toys or not.
Perhaps a game of making forts out of blankets with living room and dining room chairs – as
long as parents agree. Or a simple tea party with friends, stuffed animals and/or dolls, and
pretend food. I was an only girl so my tea party guests were toys or my younger brothers, if I
could talk them into it.

Pretend play engages a child’s creativity and imagination, which helps a child learn to have fun
on their own as well as with his or her friends. In addition, imaginative play also is an important
step in developing a child’s cognitive skills(1) , including:

1. Thinking and problem solving skills
2. Social skills
3. Communication skills

So this summer, when your child is looking for something to do, encourage your little ones (and
big ones) to participate in pretend play (or creative play, if the word “pretend” sounds too
childish). By doing so, you will take an important step to opening an abundance of doors in your
child’s future.

1. http://www.besteducationalgamesforchildren.com/why-pretend- play-is- important-for- child-
development/

Summer Blooms

Clematis and Daisies

Edited by Felina Kavi
I had visited my family in California at the end of last month.  In the morning after I returned home, I went outside to my garden to see if my flowers were blooming and had survived the week without me.  What a reception they gave me!  Tall, white daisies with yellow centers waved at me and invited me to walk through them down the path.  Clematis, geraniums, Stella de Oros yellow lilies, and peonies greeted me with pops of color.  Purple was scattered everywhere and seemed to catch my eye, complimenting all the yellow along the fence and mixing with the other colors.  The beauty takes my breath away.

I want to focus on the color purple for this month.  This photo is of a wisteria tree in the Ashikaga Flower Park in Tochigi, Japan. The largest and oldest in Japan, this tree dates back to approximately 1870.  The 143-year-old tree has branches that are supported by beams, because wisteria grows outward rather than upward, which creates a stunning flower umbrella.  When I look at wisteria, I think of Prince’s song, ‘Purple Rain’.  The wisteria looks as if it is raining purple blossoms.

 Beats of a Different Drum

Though Prince passed away in April this year, his birthday was this month (June 7th).  Many tributes to his music came up after his death, but some of his close friends remembered him another way.  Prince was a great humanitarian.  Watch this interview with his friend, Van Jones, to discover some of the amazing things this musician did in his life and how the money he made from his artistic talent was used to make a positive impact in the lives of others.

Another thing I would like to focus on this month is sound.  For years I have listened to the radio show 'A Prairie Home Companion' on Saturday afternoons on NPR.  I grew up listening to the radio.  My family would have our Sunday sandwich dinner in late afternoon while listening to radio shows.  I would walk home from school for lunch and listen to the radio soap operas my mom had on.  I love listening to the radio and I listen often.  Garrison Keillor is the creator and host of 'A Prairie Home Companion' (this is his final year he will be hosting) partnered with Fred Newman for his amazing abilities to create sound effects in extraordinary and entertaining ways.  Check out this delightful interview to learn more about this unique talent!

Speaking of unique talent, Joey Alexander (who was born in Bali, Indonesia but now lives in New Jersey) is only 12 years old and is already being called 'the future of jazz'.  He is an amazing jazz pianist and already has two Grammy nominations!  Here is an article about him that includes a video of him playing the piano.

Come to Your Senses

Our sense of hearing allows us to experience so many amazing things.  If you followed the links above, you have already heard three different types of music...one of the world's favorite things to listen to.   What are some of your favorite sounds?  When I listen to the world around me, I hear the sound of cooking utensils, the hum of machinery, whistles, vehicles, insects, birds...so many different sounds!  Pay attention to your reactions to certain sounds.  Are there any that startle you...like a creaking door, thunder, or the fly-by buzz of an insect?  What sounds make you cringe?  Nails on a chalkboard is a common one!  What sounds soothe you...flowing water, a crackling fire, or maybe the tinkle of wind chimes?  What is your favorite sound...laughter, a certain song, or perhaps the purr of a cat?  All of these things make up the music of our lives.

Now for a little musical interlude that not only refers back to the color of the month, purple, but also because I have loved this song and group for a long time.   "Deep Purple" by the Hi-Los showcases not only the sound of close harmonies with wide vocal ranges (where their name comes from), but also takes me back to the garden with the beautiful lyrics.  It gets me thinking about the deep purple shadows as twilight gives way to nightfall.  There is a sense of wonder and closeness in becoming part of the shadows.  Visualize and feel it wrapping around you.

The shape I would like to focus on this month the triangle.  There is a lot of structural strength associated with the triangle.  Buildings with a triangular shape are more structurally sound during earthquakes than the usual rectangular shapes of buildings because they don't twist during seismic activity, one of the most common reasons rectangular buildings are prone to collapse.  The photo at the bottom of this blog is of the Flat Iron Building in Manhattan.  It was designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham and built in 1902.  The distinctive triangular shape allowed the building to fill the space located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway.

Where else do you see triangles around you?  They are in math and science, clothing and fabric design, home design, etc.  Notice how many triangles you see in your environment.

Movement of the Muse

I have this book called 'A Whack on the Side of the Head:  How You Can Be More Creative' by Roger von Oech.  It is intended to stimulate the reader's creativity with puzzles, anecdotes, exercises, metaphors, cartoons, questions, quotations, stories, and tips designed to systematically break through your mental blocks and unlock your mind for creative thinking.  It's an excellent book, and right up my alley!  In the book is the following exercise:

Take a look at these shapes above.  Select one of them that is different than the others in at least one respect.  Now go to this website to see if you were correct!  You may be surprised by the answer!

Thank you for taking the time to read and try new things.  I would like to leave you with a quote that sums up the life and artistry of Prince well.  He said, "The key to longevity is to learn every aspect of music that you can."

Manhattan's Flatiron Building

Awakening Spring

'Fields of Gold' by Allard One

I just planted some purple vinca ground cover around my new Purple Ghost Japanese Maple. The tree is only two years old and very tiny still.  I buried the ashes from my last Golden Retriever, Buffy, at the bottom of the tree hole and sat down for a moment remembering her.  

I also thought about the rope swing hanging from my 75-year-old maple.  I love to swing and do so whenever I have the chance.  I repeated to myself the poem I learned as a child; ‘The Swing’ from Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘A Child’s Garden of Verses’.  I read those poems to my children and grandchildren.  Since April is Poetry Month, I want to share this poem with you.

The Swing

How do you like to go up in a swing,

Up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing

Ever a child can do!

Up in the air and over the wall,

Till I can see so wide,

River and trees and cattle and all

Over the countryside—

Till I look down on the garden green,

Down on the roof so brown—

Up in the air I go flying again,

Up in the air and down!

Beats of a Different Drum

Pink Martini is an orchestra that has appeared several times in Omaha and their focus is jazz, pop, classical, and world music.  They started in the 90s in San Francisco and have made an international name for themselves.  They started playing together because they wanted fun and interesting music to play at fundraisers.  Since Arts for All is a non-profit and we do fundraisers too, I thought it was appropriate.  Here is their song, 'Hang On, Little Tomato'.  Check them out! 

Here’s a poem that goes along with this season as well as Poetry Month.  It is called ‘The Spring Wind’ and can be found with other seasonal poems in the poetry book ‘Changes’ by Charlotte Zolotow.

The summer wind

Is soft and sweet

The winter wind is strong

The autumn wind is mischievous

And sweeps the leaves along.

The wind I love the best

Comes gently after rain

Smelling of spring and growing things

Brushing the world with feathery wings

While everything glistens, and everything sings

In the spring wind

After the rain.

Now here's some "eye candy" for you.  I’m curious if you would consider this art.  There is a woman named Kristen Cummings who uses Jelly Belly’s Jelly Beans as the ‘paint’ for her art.  She uses many different shades to create depth and realism, much like working with mosaics.  She has sold her sweet works for thousands and has many of them displayed at the Jelly Belly corporate gallery.  It takes her a week to turn 12,000 jelly beans into a work of art!  There are 50 different flavors of jelly beans, so that’s how many colors she can work with.  In this interview with CBS, Cummings says ‘I like making things out of weird stuff’.

Come to Your Senses

The colors of Spring are subtle at first…fresh greens poking out of the ground and budding from trees.  Then the whites, pinks, reds, purples, and yellows of the flowering trees and springtime blooms begin to greet the warming weather.  In my yard, I sit close to an early flowering lilac, red and yellow tulips, and a crab apple tree now in bloom.  I love color and I can’t imagine a world without it.  However, my eyes are getting worse every day.  Because of birth defects with my eyes, glaucoma, cancer medicines, and age…my eyes don’t see as clearly as they once did.  Losing my sight would be worse than cancer, for me, because I love the world I see.  For these reasons, we will be focusing on color this month…as well as circles. 

Try making a color wheel.  Colormatters has some useful information on color theory, you may want to check out their site.  Start with the primary colors:  red, yellow, and blue.  Then add the secondary colors and follow that with the tertiary colors.  These colors, and so many more, impact our lives in ways we don’t often think about.  They can change your mood and energy, give you a sense of peace or joy…even the lighting in a room or shadows over colors can have subtle effects on our emotions.  Think about how you decorate your home, yard, and environment.  Does it feel good to you, fight you, displease you, or calm you?  Are there color combinations you gravitate toward?  I like warm colors, perhaps because they seem to energize me.  I am a passionate person and the warm colors suit me well.

Following along with the color wheel, the shape for the month is the circle.  Circles are never-ending, enclosing and inclusive, and all can see each other when in a circle.  Notice the circles around you this month. How do you feel about circles?  Where do you see them?  The photo at the bottom of this page is of a building in China that is in the shape of a circle and was inspired by I Ching coins.

Movement of the Muse

Last month, we called on our inner muse to find new avenues to create solutions.  If you tried the nine dot puzzle, what kind of solutions came to mind?  Did you allow yourself to step out of the box and see a different path?  My favorite solution is to cut out 3 rows of dots and put them side-by-side in a straight line…then draw the line right through all nine of them.  Here’s a link about this puzzle which is meant to expand our pathways and inspire us to ‘think outside the box’. 

Now that we’ve opened up more pathways for our muse to spread more seeds of creativity, things can start to blossom.  Color is bursting out everywhere and the springtime of creative expression begins.  Go back to the color wheel.  Start with your favorite color.  Look for and think about all of the things in your environment that are that color.  I chose yellow and Felina Kavi, who helps edit this blog, chose the color opposite mine on the color wheel:  purple.  Do you wear your favorite color often?  Does it make you feel a certain way while wearing it, or when you see it on others or in your environment?  What does the color opposite your favorite color on the color wheel make you feel like? 

Try this for the coming weeks:  choose a ‘color of the day’ for a few weeks.  Wear something that is that color, but also notice how many times you recognize it wherever you go.  Allow colors to guide you along a pathway each day that brings a new awareness to your mind.  Suddenly choices become clearer as the color seems to pop up in unexpected ways to answer whatever questions may arise. 

Now take those paints, colored pencils, or whatever you used to make your own color wheel and get a blank canvas/piece of white paper.  White can represent an absence of color, but you can also look at the potential of the void that is there.  Now let’s put some music to it.  While listening to this song, ‘How the Garden Grows’ by Michael Franks, allow the colors to be informed and guided by the music.  Do away with the thought that often comes when faced with a fresh start, ‘What should I do?’  Allow the muse to travel along with the song through your ears, into your mind, and through your fingers.  See what you come up with. 

“You can’t use up creativity.  The more you use it, the more you have.” -Maya Angelou

 

Guangzhou Circle in China

New Beginnings

‘Spring Time’ by Krzysztof Browko

Every Spring morning, I rush outside to appreciate all the new growth this season brings.  The tiny bits of green pushing up through the dirt, the opening of buds on my Japanese Maples and Cherokee Chief Red Dogwood…these signs of Spring are dear to me.  I love trees, flowers, shrubs, and growing beautiful and interesting plants.  I love growing Arts For All.  It is time to be getting the garden ready and we are doing the same thing with AFA starting with the new blog by a somewhat seasoned gardener.


New growth needs good prepared soil, lots of sun and rain, and tender loving care.  Essentially, it not only needs the time and attention of the gardener, but also support from its environment.  It is my hope that these seeds of creativity I am planting in words, images, sounds, and feelings will inspire our readers to grow creative gardens of their own.
 

There is a reason we are starting this new endeavor in March. Spring is stirring under the surface, ready to burst forth the beauty of new beginnings.  My intention with this blog is to provide you with something new and beautiful to see, to hear, to think about…we all need beautiful, joyful moments.  Creative inspiration is everywhere around us, and it has the capacity to not only make the world a more beautiful and interesting place but also to change lives in extraordinary ways.  I, and the Arts for All instructors, have seen this happen year after year with the students in our classes.  Learning to expand upon your creative abilities from other creative people encourages growth in many areas of life.  We at Arts for All love to see the blossoming of new ideas.

I would like to share with you how to be the creator of your own garden of inspiration.  Start with something simple.  This month, try a random act of kindness without any concern about being identified as the kindness giver…it could change your life or someone else’s.  I believe the arts change lives too.  May this blog inspire you to go plant good seeds.

Beats of a Different Drum

Photography is an art form that goes beyond ‘selfies’ and recording vacations.  Joel Sartore, a neighbor of ours from Lincoln, uses photography as part of his mission to save lives.  This project of photographing animals that are about to become extinct began for Sartore at the Lincoln Childrens’ Zoo.  His Photo Ark now includes up to 5400 species.  His photos are exhibited through this month in the NG Museum in Washington D.C.  He will also be projecting some of the images on buildings such as the Empire State Builiding and the Vatican.  Check out his Photo Ark for National Geographic to see some unique portraits of endangered animals.

The combination of beautiful music with natural settings is what piqued my interest in The Piano Guys. These musicians play on top of mountains, in forests, on beaches, and give their own spin on many different styles of music.  Check out some of their videos and experience a multi-sensory performance. 

‘The Waters of March’ is one of my favorite songs by Antonio Carlos Jobim, and is fitting for this time of year.  I love this version of the song sung by Susannah McCorkle.  Some of it is in English while some of it is in Portugese.  This springtime song encompasses the idea that there is beauty and wonder in the small things around us.  The choppiness of the lyrics brings to mind all of the slices of life that make up our lives, while the rhythm ties them together joyfully.  Please listen to this song, and hopefully it brings as much joy to your heart as it does to mine.

Come to Your Senses

I have been accused of being an addict.  I am, but not like you think….I am addicted to beauty….the beauty of just about everything I see, hear and feel.  I appreciate the beauty in all things…the beauty of people, the clouds, mountains, the sound of a fire crackling outdoors while camping or indoors on a cold and cloudy winter afternoon.  And, I am.  By coming to your senses, develop a sense of wonder and experience the WOW factor.  In doing so, more and more each day, you’ll learn to really see  Remembering the elements of art will make this happen if you focus on them….this is not hard and can become a habit….a good habit.

Color, shape, line, texture, pattern…look how one thing interacts with the other.  For this month, pay attention to patterns of all kinds, and things that repeat. In my room, where I am typing, I have a lot of geometrics…..wallpaper with squares, picture frames that are square or rectangle, books, the doors, the squares in the pictures, squares in the rugs, squares in the book cover, squares in the clock face.  Everything in the room where you are reading this has been designed, created, and made using these art elements.  Pick one pattern and look for it everywhere.  Find the words to describe these shapes and patterns.  Do you notice that you have an affinity for certain shapes over others?

Movement of the Muse

Would you say that you are creative?  When I used to ask students this, most would say NO.

I beg to differ.  My belief is that everyone is creative and the definition I use may be very different from most so that is why I say…..you are creative.  You may not be or want to be a painter, writer, composer, designer, inventor…however, I still say you are creative.  Thinking creatively is a common experience.  It is who you are as a human being.  Ideas can pop into your head.  Pictures come to mind.  It is life.  It is creative.

Novelty, passion, energy, willingness to try, to dream, to take a risk in anything…..even a new way to make chili.  Solve a problem, find a new way to work. 

Try this nine dot puzzle.  This is a classic problem for developing creative thinking.  Below are nine dots arranged in a set of three rows.  Your challenge is to draw four straight lines which go through the middle of all of the dots without taking the pencil off the paper.
 

Even if you have done this puzzle before, you may not remember how to solve it.  When finished you will see that you may be limiting your thinking by staying with a certain paradigm and not thinking out of the box.  We tend to limit ourselves and so many times there are many solutions to problems or creative ways of doing things.  Paying attention to your senses, thinking more expansively, and not restricting yourself to so many limitations all relate to working in the arts and creativity.  Look for more puzzles next month.

Albert Einstein says, and I agree along with many others, that imagination is most important.  “Imagination is more important than knowledge, for knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world and all there ever will be to know and understand.”  You can go anywhere you want with imagination.

Sumet Jumasi's 'Elephant Building', Bangkok (Photo by Alamy)