For the past two years, I’ve been invited to run monthly workshops at The Worcester Family Partnership. WFP is a wonderful organization, which provides an educational, inviting, enriching, and nurturing place for families with small children to spend their mornings. They offer playgroup, healthy snacks, literacy events, and creative enrichment. I feel so lucky to get to work with the staff and families who spend their time there, and I always leave smiling.
Yesterday, I ran a Blob with Personalities workshop where the children used watercolor to paint nondescript blobs. Once the blobs were dry (they dried super quickly because we layed them across the heater, which is a silver lining to our frigid temperatures!), the children used art markers to give their blobs personalities. Some children chose to turn their blobs into animals:
Others gave their blobs facial features:
This child launched right into storytelling with his blob characters. He said that the grumpy blob took away the surprised blob’s bicycle. This made the blue blob cry, and help the surprised blob. They hold hands! In the end, the blob (whose bicycle was stolen) was smiling and happy. And, then, actually one of the blobs became an alien and was transported to the surface of a planet with craters and volcanoes. The single tear running down the blue blob’s face was the highlight of my morning. Watching this young child transform a splotch of color into a character with deep feelings was incredible. I loved observing the way his simple lines and details packed so much emotional power.
The littlest members of the group made gorgeous watercolor blobs, and left them as is. Blobs can just be blobs, after all.
And, these were the two blob friends who appeared on my page:
