As the Creative Librarian, I am always looking for interesting ways to get my students’ creative juices flowing. Today, my kindergarten and first grade students explored their creative side after reading the book Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg, an ode to those who make mistakes – and how they can be turned into something beautiful.
Tying in the importance of recycling and reusing our resources, we discussed risk-taking and challenging oneself to make the world a better place. One of the many wonderful things about teaching elementary age students is that they generally are willing to explore an idea and embrace it fully with abandon. My students were given scraps of ripped, wrinkled, and worn construction paper, scissors, glue, markers,and crayons, and began creating their own Beautiful Oops– inspired artwork. They selected just the right pieces of paper, and began crunching, coloring, cutting, and ripping. Within a few minutes their scraps transformed into art. I was thrilled with their excitement, and impressed by my students’ masterpieces!
Beautiful Oops – A Program to Foster Creativity
I hope you and your students will be inspired to make your mistakes beautiful, too!
The Creative Librarian 