My Dancing Dragon (DD) has begun his book, titled The Dark Shadow.  You can view the beginning of his tale at the Story Art section of DreamArc.  He dictated the story to me, and I typed it into the computer, making it official.  The DD was delighted!  We first printed out a sheet with the title across the top.  Using this sheet he made a crayon drawing for the cover art.  While he designed and colored, I had him dictate the first page of the story to me while I typed it onto a sheet I had set up for the inside of the book with text along the left side allowing for art on the right.  When he was finished with his drawing, I scanned it, and then brought it into Photoshop.  There, I added background color to the crayon art under his exact specifications. 

It was great fun for both of us, and got us both through an impatient day at home.  I had taken him to the doctor the previous day with strep-throat.  He couldn’t return to school for two days, but he was feeling peppy the second day and needed entertainment.  The process of beginning to turn his story into a real book delighted both of us.

The Dancing Dragon’s book grew out of the complex tale he had woven after hearing my ideas for my upcoming NaNoWriMo novel.  Realizing right away that he would not be dissuaded from creating his own version of the story/stories, I offered to assist him in building his own book.  He wanted assurance that we could actually turn it into a “real” book with a cover and a hard spine.  I assure him that we could.  I either plan on uploading it to Lulu.com and have a copy printed or actually building our own book with cover. 

My fifth grade teacher had us write and illustrate our own novel and taught us a rudimentary way of Book Binding with cardboard and contact paper.  As I refigure out the process with the DD, I will document it and put it onto the website for your use.

Meanwhile, the Dancing Dragon and I are in the creative state of Story Art.  Visit the Story Art section of DreamArc to see our process.  We are moving slowly, between rounds of strep throat, Boy Scout Campouts, School Homework and the intricate task of building Robot Dragons.

Original Crayon Cover Art

(before Photoshop)

Give a child a stack of blocks to play or colors, paper, scissors and glue then stand back as their imagination expands across the living room floor.  Be warned, however, this does make life a little sticky and glittery at times (all the time), and walking can become an obstacle course. 

The art of play can not be underestimated.  As Friedrich Froebel, the founder of Kindergarten, said, “Play is the work of children.”  Play is how they experiment and learn how to build the world of tomorrow.  Toys and tools that allow children to manipulate, imagine and create are the biggest brain builders.  Some of my favorites are listed below.  You can find samples of some under the Toys heading at DreamArc, if you need any for your little ones to fill their growing hands and minds.

Construction Toys

The Building Blocks page at DreamArc and the earlier blog entry here give a list of some of the brain building power of these little cubes, rectangles and cylinders. 

Toys for Developing Abstract Design & Spatial Awareness

For the manipulation of color, shapes and design beyond the basic building blocks

Imaginative Play Toys

Puppets and play things to add color and dimension, bringing the imagination to life

Crayons, Markers, Chalk & Paint

The basics to illustrate the stories pouring out of those brains, and for designing the Robot Dragons and Amusement Parks of tomorrow

Remember when you leave for the office in the morning with your suit covered in glitter –

Playing Is Hard Work!    

And Important!

Having an imaginative family leads to some creative conversations at the dinner table.  Last night, the Fashion Fairy (FF) launched into an in depth question and debate session on what Cryogenics was and why she COULD NOT do it to her mother.

My husband, the master architect and holder of all knowledge strange and cool, was the mediator for the (what I felt to be) bizarre round table discussion.  FF wanted to know what Cryogenics was.  The mediator, who just happened to work two floors above a cryogenics lab in his early intern days, explained the “freezing your head until they find a cure for your body theory.”  I sat in utter bewilderment, my normal state of being these days, forgetting to remind my son, the Dancing Dragon (DD) to stop eating the ketchup/ mustard concoction by itself and add food to the mix.  FF, however, immediately wanted to know if she could do this to my head when I die.

NO!

Why not?  You’ll be dead.  You won’t care.

NO!

But you won’t know.

After explaining the ethics of conducting experiments on your mother, even if she doesn’t know what you are up to, I remembered to insist DD apply solid food to his diet, and told FF to stop talking and start eating, like any good parent of a future Mad Scientist would do. 

Right?

Or is this just my creative crew?  I understand that most folk may not find Cryogenics Conversation good for the digestive system, but I am growing accustom to it.  Although, I will be sleeping with one eye open until this fascination passes.