Back to School: A Creative Approach and The Importance of Art

In this blog post, I’d like to explore why I feel including a good dose of art and creativity is a good idea during the first week back to school.
Do kids feel more comfortable or free to express themselves in a deeper way via art and image making?
​Art can be a fantastic vehicle for learning, communicating feelings and exploring outside of the box thinking.
I’m a great believer in the positive power of art on our mental wellbeing.
I’ve listed 10 Ways I think Art Can Help Us - at home, in the classroom, for both adults and children of all ages - pin it to keep it handy!

 
Imagine: It’s the first week back at school....
The class meets up again after the long summer break.
Children get to reflect over their holiday memories, catch up with friends, and begin to learn more about their new teacher.
They explore their learning preferences, where they excel, the challenges they face, they set new goals for the coming year.
And the new teacher starts to build a picture of each child - what a lot is going on!! 

This is where we can introduce icebreaker games, ‘all about me’ activities, student surveys and teacher questionnaires.

There seems to be a ‘format’ for these activities – typical questions feature along the lines of:
Student’s name, age, birthday, family members, favourite food, book, movie, sport, weekend hobby etc. Whilst I think these questions are great, it also got me thinking about what could be missing? Or can we dig a bit deeper to find out what really makes our student’s tick and build a relationship and environment based on trust, open communication, empathy and support?

How are the children really feeling on their first day back to school?
And how do teachers feel? 
A mixture of excitement and apprehension?
We are all unique and can feel happy, sad, scared, anxious and excited all at the same time.
Excited to see friends again.
Sad, or maybe glad that the summer holidays are over.
Anxious about meeting the new teacher
Scared that maths might be too challenging this year......

​I've researched and designed a FREE '50 First Week Back Questions' teacher resource.
The questions can be used in full in the classroom, working individually, in pairs or small groups, or as a reflective homework activity with parents.
Or you may wish to select just the questions that feel right for you.
The activity includes general 'All About Me' questions such as age, birthday, favourite food etc, and also 'digs a bit deeper' with questions such as,
'How do you feel this week?'
'What challenges you?'
'What support do you need?'
Along with some open ended sentences to complete, such as , 'I imagine, I aim to, I wonder....
​Click on the image below to download it:

Researching ‘Back to School’ activities on the web (mainly pinterest because I love it), I found such an abundance of printable pages and activities, teacher surveys and questionnaires. 

Most of them involve answering questions with words.

Being a visual creative type who sees the world in pictures and colour format, this information gave me the inspiration to fill what I see, as a gap – to design some fun, imaginative back to school activities that involve illustrating our answers, exploring colour and imagery, alongside the written aspect.

If you are looking for ideas and inspiration from around the globe, you can visit my 
Back To School Pinterest Creative Ideas Board 

If you would like to view my Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School activities and classroom decor packs, suitable for kids age 6-10 please click on the images below:

Have a great first week back to school!

Engage children creatively with this Instagram style, 'tech' mobile phone/tablet 'All About Me' first week back, art and writing activity. $3.25

Engage children creatively with this Instagram style, 'tech' mobile phone/tablet 'My Summer Memories' first week back, art and writing activity. $3.25

Create 'A Ball About Me', a fun, first week back to school creative activity.
This soccer/football template encourages children to illustrate their answers in a personal, imaginative way using doodles, mark making, graffiti style lettering and imagery. $3.25

These vintage feel fairground-inspired A-Z uppercase alphabet letters and posters make a great visual impact on classrooms for all age groups.
Ideal decoration for the first week back to school, and all year round too. $3.50

Bring some fun and visual arts into the first day back at school with this creative activity and bulletin board decor pack, inspired by 'the artist's paint palette and the colors of the rainbow'. $3.00

This pack contains 90 questions and prompts for End of Year, Back to School and All about Me group discussion & reflection activities in the classroom.
The cards have been designed using a modern mobile phone-style template to appeal to this age group and give the activity a sense of fun and curiosity. $3.50