Creative (Almost) Every Day: Glow By The Light Of Your Own Creative Candle

This is a picture of my daughter lighting a candle for the first time that she made earlier that day.

Do you think she’s proud of what she made?

You’re darn right she is.

She also split that piece of holly wood in half and drilled the candle hole into it, as well.

That’s maternal pride you’re witnessing now. 🙂

Here’s how Samantha made her candle: He were in the old hen house listening to one of the volunteer telling stories about what life was like in the late 1800 on a communal farm. We learned that the families had to make their own candles using tallow from the butchered animals. (Ew.)

Then the kids were given a strand of candle wick. They marched around rectangle table dipping the wicks in crock pots full of melted wax (not tallow). Then right after the wax dip, the kids dipped their growing candles in a bucket of cold water, straightened out the candle, and kept marching around the table. Dipping, dipping, straightening, marching, dipping, dipping, straightening. You get the picture.

They had to march around that table a whole bunch of times. Do you think this was fun and educational for a class of 3rd graders?

You’re dang right it was.

It was a good day of experiential learning at the good ol’ Aurora Stauffer-Will Farm on a field trip last week.

And if you want people to notice and admire your creative projects, you’re going to need to take pride in them, as well.

I mean humble pride, like the pride that comes naturally from the joy of doing. Like the warm pride I think we can all see on this kid’s face.

So…got pride? The kind of pride that comes from the joy of doing is contagious and doesn’t need much help otherwise.