Learn 365-004:Advantage of Blank Paper and a Pencil

Are you looking for an activity to start your homeschool day their creative minds? Consider a daily creative learning and take advantage of blank paper and a pencil.

In one of my conversation with a day care specialist, she told me that they are not allowed to give a coloring book to a kid. They are only allowed to give a blank paper and a pencil. I asked her why. She answered, “it promotes creativity.”

I thought about that for a while. Which I thought actually makes sense. Although I would have preferred a blank paper and crayons, haha.

I went back to how I started learning as a kid (at least those that I remembered). It was on the early 80s, on a remote area of a remote province, of an underdeveloped country. All we had were different plants that my mom grows in her yard like fruit bearing trees like bananas, guavas and coconuts, and fishponds that my father inherited from her parents.  Simple as these may have sound but they are the very foundations of my learning.

I learned how the power of the wind could help fly a kite by putting a banana leaves into the air and make it fly.

I learned how to catch a fish (and frog, too) because we had to stay in the fishpond at least once a week.

I learned how to make a ball from the leaves of palm trees and played with it like it is the best toy ever.

I learned to make a boat from an old newspaper.

I learned to build water dam using dirt and timed the release of the water when “dam” is full.

Even with those simple things that we had back then, those were enormous learning experiences that I’ve had privilege to have. Going back to these roots helped us comprehend the learning that is available to us. Then, it makes me realize how amazing on what our kids could do with raw materials such as a blank paper and a pencil.

Now, being a mother of three daughters, I’m very passionate about teaching them differently because by being different it leaves room for growth. Starting with my childhood experiences, to what I have learned while traveling to different countries, and to what I have learned working in corporate America are vast enough to give them the learning we all enjoy as a family.

Learning should not be limited to the walls of the classroom. Learning is about discovering anything where it happens. They should learn how things happens. Like why a kite fly.

They should learn how a boat float. They should learn how an airplane fly. They should learn that the world is huge. There are other countries and culture that they could explore to. They should learn that there are other games played in the world aside from hide and seek and tag. The list goes on and on.

Learning is exciting. It is fun. It happens anytime, everywhere. The only limit is our imagination.

Since my conversation about the blank paper and a pencil, I started giving my kids just that. They started creating things that amazes me and my husband. Best of all, I started receiving beautiful cards from them everyday! One time my oldest daughter drawn her own house, her own restaurant, and the universe! She started dreams that makes her confident that she could achieve. She thought, if she could draw it, she could achieve it.

We do not underestimate the power of a blank paper and a pencil. Just because all ideas starts from there.