Category Archives: Creative play

Organic modeling clay can help your child express difficult emotions caused by challenges of the pandemic.

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Corona has now affected us all for a whole year. Numerous lockdowns have forced us to isolate either alone or with only the immediate family. We got to spend more time with our kids, which in these uncertain times indeed also has given us something positive, nurturing our family bond.
Nevertheless the human being is a social creature, mirroring ourselves through relationships with others. To enter into healthy close relationships is a gift never to be talken for granted. They must be valued and nurtured, because they make us, who we are.
In the first years of life the bond to the parents and siblings is sufficient, but as the child grow, social relationships to other adults and children will play an important role in the development of the child’s self-perception.
Our current deprivation of social relationships can cause great psychological distress, anxiety and identity crisis.
Adults can much easier express themselves, when it comes to missing our work relationships, leisure activity relations and friends. Our children can have exactly the same frustrations, but without being able to clearly identify and express the core of the deprivation they suffer. Instead, this can sometimes manifest through physical symptoms as headaches and abdominal pain, or the child may show direct sadness.
It is important, we articulate this problem with our children. Showing them, what they feel is genuine, and they do not have to carry around these feeling by themselves.
How can we go about this the best.
Sometimes it can be hard to find a good way to open up.
Creative play is a wonderful way to reach out to your child. Organic modeling clay can help both you and your child to ease into a difficult conversation.
The play does not have to have anything to do with the difficult subject of conversation, but can be a safe companion.
Depending on the age of the child, organic modeling clay can also be used as a tool in the conversation, maybe molding inner emotions, or simply molding figures of the friends and family they miss the most.
Creating sweet gifts for missed friends, baking our organic modeling clay in the oven at 60 degrees and sprayed with varnish after baking, is also a way to help your child to cope with the challenges the worldwide pandemic has caused, depriving us many of our social relations.
Every choice matters. The mental health of our children is the cornerstone of our common future.

Læringstavler kan bruges i kreativ leg med modellervoks

How can you use a learning board?

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Learning boards can be used as a complementary tool in creative play. The learning board can help the imagination on its way, and the child will often automatically move on from there and add to the story himself.
You can draw learning boards, which fit especially your child´s development stage. And even better the child can draw pictures himself. Laminate the drawing and use it as a playing mat during creative play, for example during modeling clay activity.
By laminating the drawing, which your child made, you can save it for many years- an extra benefit.
We have a selection af learning boards here at our website (Download here), which you can download for free, or you can just use our learning boards as an inspiration source to create your own.
It is important to be aware of the development stage of the individual child, when you create your learning boards. This way you can make sure, that it will be a positive experience.
You and your child can talk about, which topics are of interest at the moment. Only the sky is the limit.
The learning boards can be made in beautiful colors. Black and white learning boards can also be useful. The child himself can add color using modeling clay, paint or grids.
Learning boards can train the ability of storytelling and communication. Be curious and ask your child about his creations. Almost without exception every child loves to get the chance to tell about their special creations. When mom and dad want to join in the fun and want to be invited into “Fantasia”, it is pure quality time for everyone. Quality time which at the same time develop you child both physically and mentally.
Using the learning boards in creative play, your child become more confident about sharing ideas, developing problem solving skills.
Inclusion of others into a joint cooperation is another fine benefit. When mom and dad show interest into the project, and the child “says” come along, and show the way into their imaginary world.
It is easy and fun for everybody.
As an adult, you yourself can absolutely also benefit from using learning boards. You will no doubt soon disappear into your own imaginary world. Stress will be reduced and you will develop your creative skills through play.
Creative thinking is useful in all types of jobs. If you keep the ability to play, you are probably good at finding solutions to the problems you encounter during the day. A very useful ability to have in the world of today.

creative play, chaos and personal development ailefo organic modeling clay

Creative play, chaos and personal development

Creative play, ,

From the day our children are born, their brain is set to chaos as the main programming. Modern society use the rest of their lifes to teach them to put everything into a system and control chaos.

According to the Finnish brain researcher Matti Bergström, society’s need to control, could have major consequences humans and our future. He believes that we should maintain the chaos of the child within us, nurture and care for our inner childish chaos through out our lifes.
It is in the childish chaos that all development and creative thinking lies. If we control and suppress chaos, we will at the same time suppress the possibility of developing the human ability of creative thinking. Thus comparable to the ability to think independently and problem solving.
Creative play helps to maintain chaos, and show us the way to new ideas, we have not yet thought of.
The more freely we can play, free of adult logic, the more we benefit from this to learn to understand the world around us. An understanding that helps us process all incoming impressions leading to personal growth and development.

It is a very important parental task to make room for our child´s imagination, create the right conditions, in such a way that chaos can live within the child and help it prosper and grow.
How do we do so?

We must put aside our adult logic and need for control. Curiosity and believing that anything is possible will strengthen your child’s self-confidence through the land of Fantasya and thereby the child’s belief in him or herself.
Do you participate in the creative play yourself, you will not only enhancing the ability to maintain creativity in both you and your child. You will also strengthen your child´s social skills. The ability to share, include others and give room for other ideas than ones own.

Most of us have been taught that chaos must be controlled, we must be the one in control, keeping stress down, keeping up with demands of modern society.

What would happen, if we let go of all that, put everything aside for while and let chaos be our friend in a creative timeless zone together with our children.
I believe that everyone of us would benefit in a very positive way. That we would be even better equipped to tackle the challenges and high tempo that a moderne family faces every day.

Our advice to you: Make sure that any one in the family always have assess to creative products, let go of control, embrace chaos, enter the universe of infinite possibilities, see the world through the eyes of your child joining in on the creative play.