I received a comment the other day and thought it would make a great post:

"...I have a 4 year old boy who has shown great interest in drawing and painting. Several people have suggested we pursue his love of art. This may be a question for your mom but I figured I would start at the source. Can you recommend some starting points for us. I am creative but I can't draw. I want to develop this talent but would love suggestions. I will be homeschooling him so I have time to pour into this skill....Thank you. -Amy"

Dear Amy,

It is so encouraging to find families who want to develop the gifts God has given them! The Creator of the universe made us in His image, and through our lives of creativity and honoring Him we glorify Him.

There isn't any one formula that works for everyone, but there are some ideas that my parents implemented in my childhood that really made an impact. Looking back, I am very thankful for their gracious approach to letting us discover and create a lot on our own. Here's a peek into what my childhood looked like:

I spent a short amount of time in a public school (kindergarten and half of first grade) and my teachers' main concerns were that I drew on my assignment papers! They made sure mom knew about this "problem". I even got in trouble once for not drawing braids on my Thanksgiving Indian like everyone else.

Once we were homeschooling we had all the time in the world to be curious, adventurous and creative. Emily and I spent much of our time reading (or looking at) books, playing, and (mostly me) drawing pictures. Our parents knew the value of keeping our young minds busy and learning through creative outlets, so plenty of crafting materials were always on hand. Mom and Dad gave us a few rules:

• 1) Whenever we were watching a movie or Mom was reading to us, we had to keep our hands busy
• 2) Whenever we had free time to play, it had to be "constructive free time", not mindless video games or senseless movies, and...
• 3) We always had to clean up our mess after we were done creating.

By the time I was 9, and Emily 7, Mom had introduced us to basic sewing, embroidery, and crocheting, as well as watercolors and colored pencils. She had us keep each of our supplies in shoe boxes; one for embroidery, one for crochet...(Click here for a great post on art boxes!). When Mom would read aloud to us, or Dad was leading family devotions, we would pull out our little crochet projects or paper and pencils.

Our encouraging parents made sure we had a few art supplies always within reach. It was a good combination of encouragement and creative support. The force that pulled all of these resources together was being inspired. One of my largest sources of inspiration has always come from books.

From the time when we were wee little girls, we have been going to the library. We would come home loaded with books on our favorite animals, crafts, countries we wanted to travel to, fairy tales, art, and especially children's books with illustrations we couldn't resist. The best thing of all, we were encouraged to spend lots of "quiet time" with books.

Being allowed to sit and look at books for hours nurtured my love for reading, learning and art. Through this appreciation I was able to learn a bit more on my own. Once Mom got a DickBlick catalog for me, I discovered a whole new host of art books. I wrote down a handful of titles and authors I wanted to check out at the library or find through interlibrary loan.

In the world of books I can pursue and learn about my interests, whether they be acrylics, wood burning, cake decorating, caring for animals, sewing historical costumes, oil painting or watercolors.

This is where my greatest developments have sprung from; knowing what inspires me, and knowing how to learn. Mom and Dad gave me these resources by wisely teaching, guiding and protecting me wherever we were.

This is where I'd encourage parents: a healthy dose of fresh air, books, crafting materials, "constructive free time", and encouragement, all within a guided and structured schedule.

God bless you on your journey!