On Wednesday, October 9th, I had the opportunity to volunteer at BJM Elementary School. I helped with young kids in the Math and Science section of the classroom. There, I got to see young kids create pieces of artwork with basic supplies (i.e. tacks, hot glue gun, cardboard, and beads). In particular, Emily showed me how her group manage to make a whole house filled with different rooms for both people and cats to live in as well as a whole bunch of traps in case someone breaks into their home. They used hot glue to create a spider looking trap, a pile of macaroni used for food, and even making a string out of paper clips as a clothes line. After listening to Emily, I am amazed and impressed on how creative these kids can be. They have inspired me to think more creatively and push me to think outside of the box.
I also got the chance to participate and look at a few kids play Candy Land. After we had played one round, one girl, in particular, was upset for not winning. To make her feel better, we agreed to play another match. In the second round, she did not win again. The little girl was adamant about winning that we played another round. Thankfully, she was able to win the third round. However, her drive and motivation to win also inspired me to reflect and realize that it is important to never give up. Whenever an obstacle arises, I have to remind myself to never give up.
It’s really great that kids helped remind you of the value of creative thinking and not giving up. I find that as we get older, although we may learn more information, we also forget a lot of other important lessons that we learned as kids. Despite how useful creative thinking can help in many aspects of life, I often hear about how much less creative we get as we age and it seems like being around kids would certainly help re-instill that quality!