Who knew I will be writing about pencil shaving art today? Honestly, I did not plan this or even thought about it.
There are days when I am just out of ideas for a craft or an activity. Nothing pops in my mind. Today was THE day.
And I strongly believe (especially after what my daughter did) that it's healthy for everybody: me and my child.
Jump to:
And the pencil shaving art idea was born
I am sure a lot of you can relate to the unsharpened pencil situation.
Well, my kids love Colored Pencils in a Metal Tin, but the problem is that they need to be sharpened once in a while.
So, being super bored, my daughter decides she will sharpen some pencils. And as she does it, she discovers that pencil shavings are 'so pretty' and 'I can make a craft out of them'. Can she?
She decided she only needs these supplies to create some pencil shaving art
3 tips for working with pencil shavings:
- Suggest your child to push the pencil harder towards the sharpener and turn it slowly to get thicker and longer shaving.
- Use tweezers to handle the pencil shavings with whatever art your kid will do. Isn't it a nice motor skills activity?
- We noticed that pencils which had facets made pencil shavings more scalloped.
I loved this pencil shaving art activity so much for few reasons:
- Obviously, I loved it because I didn't come up with it, my daughter did.
- Since I wasn't involved into this activity, I loved how she made her own decisions when choosing the supplies and how to lay the pencil shavings out.
- It didn't require any extra crafting or art materials. Can't go wrong with fun and cheap!
- She used tweezers to handle the pencil shaving, so it made a perfect motor skills activity.
- We up-cycled, which is one my biggest crafting goals and joys ever. Makes me so happy every time.
TIP: As an extra encouragement for the next child-led art, don't forget to display the art they created. Be proud of it and make sure to say that. Find specific things you love about it.
Here is a short video how an artist created this amazing pencil shaving art which is so simple yet so magnificent.
Sharing this post with you I had 2 goals in mind: 1. Next time you have pencil shavings on the table, DON'T just scrap them and put them in the trash, because it can be easily turned into a fun pencil shaving art activity for your children. 2. Believe in your child to create some amazing stuff WITHOUT YOUR HELP and recognize the opportunity to sit back and don't interrupt when your child is in a creative mood.
Have you seen our Creative Art Activity that turned out to be brilliant?
Also, check it out Jamie's blog post about raising creative kids for some awesome tips from the pro.
