Pencil holder (3) – Colored paper

In recent years, I have noticed a difference in the times.  In previous activities, I felt that the children did not have much of a preference for color or design. When handing out stationery for programs, they would just pick whatever was on top without intentionally choosing, and no matter how beautiful the illustrations on the essay paper were, they would write over them without any regard for them.  I got the impression that they didn't spend much of their time thinking about anything other than their specific purpose in life. In a life where survival is the top priority, this may be a natural course of action.

However, I didn't give up and when using teaching materials that allow students to choose the color or pattern, I tried to let them choose as much as possible.  Whether it's writing or crafts, even if the children are not good at them, I thought that using their favorite colors and patterns would increase their motivation, and above all, I wanted to stimulate and enhance the children's own sensibilities.

In recent years, when it comes to our foster children in the island, when we have programs using paints, colored papers, ribbons, etc., many girls, especially in the lower grades, often say they want pink.  It makes me want to prepare more materials in bright colors and pretty patterns for them, so that they can be more exposed to those.  In this time's program, all the girls, including the older students, chose their favorite patterns. Some liked red flowers, some liked yellow patterns, some thought black background was beautiful with cherry blossom, some thought white was stylish with the same cherry blossom, and some were interested in geometric patterns... It was truly wonderful to see their individuality come out like this.

Since there was a limit to the number of patterns on the colored paper available, many children ended up with the same patterns and colors; but what was interesting was that some children decorated their pencil holders with several different types of colored paper shared from friends around.  We had designed a blueprint of the pen holder in a way that it could be decorated with one piece of colored paper.  As a result, we distributed one piece of colored paper to each child.  But then, while some children used one piece of paper to create a beautiful work, others exchanged scraps with their friends to create their own unique works.

It's heartwarming to see their sensitivity like this.  In Japan and America, this is something that children naturally experience in kindergarten and early school ages, but these children here, who have never had such an opportunity, are now able to hone their sensitivity and creativity in this way.