One of my absolute favorite artists right now is Keri Smith. I have, quite accidentally, started my own Keri Smith library. I picked up this first book while we were still living in California. It’s called Living Out Loud. Since getting this book, I’ve picked up a few others of hers along the way, including this book that I got for Zoe for Christmas. We’ve been doing some of the activities in Zoe’s book and it’s re-sparked my interest in Keri Smith and her books.
Here’s why I love her. SHE MAKES ME THINK OUTSIDE OF MY BOX! She makes me want to read books about things I know nothing about. She makes me want to play. She makes me want to explore. She helps make me embrace my word for this year – CHILDLIKE.
So we are going through the Living Out Loud book as part of our homeschooling. And when we finish that one, I have at least 3, other books of Keri’s that will be equally as wonderful. The Living Out Loud book is more artistic in nature, but some of the others are just plain creative thinking. Exercises to make us think outside of our box. Good stuff!
Last week we made these finders out of cardboard. They allow you to see life in a different way. Looking through our finders we saw things we would have never seen otherwise. Colors, textures, details. Why, I even discovered islands! I was looking with my finder on a globe and I discovered islands way out in the middle of the ocean that I didn’t even know existed!
(*note – I’ve found the finder can also be used when you are in an overwhelming situation, such as if your house is completely cluttered in toys and kid clothes and food crumbs and the like. you can look through the finder to focus in on one little bit of life, and blur out the chaos all around you as you think, “ah, what a nice mix of colors those legos make, strewn so artistically across the floor.”)
I used the finder with my 3 oldest kids. We each picked an object, so 4 in total. We would use our finder to discover something on the object and then we would draw it in our journal. When we were done “finding” and documenting all 4 things we compared drawings. It was so cool to see the different ways our eyes looked at things.
I wanted to add that I used to just flip through Keri Smith’s books. “What nice ideas,” I would think. They are nice coffee table material. But when you really engage and interact with them, which is of course what she intended, something magical happens. She makes you play. The adult in me seldom wants to play.
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Love her, too, thanks to you! I need to buy that book for myself. I’ve borrowed it from the library, but they don’t look too kindly on those who rip out pages.
I’ve loved reading your posts lately Mandy and am so excited for your new word! I love this idea of using these books with your kids. So much fun, and this view finder idea is great! It’s all I can do to hold myself back and picking up a book of hers too.
Ok ~ so I just bought 3 Keri Smith books and the science experiments book on Amazon! You talked about what inspires you (meaning me) and I must say that you do! You are very free in how you do life. And, I love the fun, freeing, organic way you homeschool. My mind gets too rigid when I think about homeschooling. I think we need more structure and I get down on myself if we aren’t doing more or what I think is enough. So, I just need to go with the flow more, have fun, and embrace the “unplanned” moments. Thanks for sharing all that you do!