Star Trek and the creative home

Sitting in the movie theater watching Star Trek this past weekend, almost brought tears to my eyes. To view a movie that actually has a plot line that twists and turns enough to not be formulaic is a rarity. Being a long-time Trekkie, I didn't know what to expect when I walked into the theater. Could new actors and a new director match the creativity and depth seen in previous Star TrekStar Trek can be a jumping off point for new stories and adventures.

How can you weave more creativity into your home life or homeschooling day? Put away the school books and get out the art supplies, the video camera, pens, pencils, papers, dvd's, and anything else that excites you or your children. When my son was eight years old, my husband started teaching him how to make stop-action animation movies and live action movies using our video camera. My son ended up making a series of three movies centered around alien life, several stop-action lego movies, and more recently, pretend Heinz Ketchup commercials (see Youtube video below). Making movies was a fantastic way to foster his skills in dialog creation and art. Here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing in your house: movies and tv shows? Apparently, the answer is yes. Creativity is a part of life worthy of high appreciation. Movies, like other art forms, can be used to motivate the viewer to further artistic expression. For example, well told stories like the one presented in

• Go to the library and take out music cd's in various genres such as classical, jazz, techno, etc. Get out some markers, crayons, paints and paper and have your children interpret the music into drawings, colorings or paintings. Discuss how the tempos and flow of the music can effect the lengths of the lines used and the colors chosen.

• Get out your digital camera and exit your front door. Without going further than five feet from your door, let each child choose an item to photograph in a new way. Perhaps they will focus on the doorknob close up or lay down on your sidewalk and shoot something from below. Even the most mundane objects can be made interesting if you capture them in an unexpected way. Photojojo.com is a great site to visit for photography-related ideas.

• Take out all of your old magazines, glue sticks, and cardboard or poster board. Have your children cut out squares of color from the photographs and then sort the squares by color. Next, encourage them to create a picture by pasting the squares onto the board.

• Get a large cardboard box and cut out a "window" in the front of the box. Have your children decorate the outside of the box with crayons or markers to resemble a television. Next, let your children act out their own tv shows, commercials, and interviews through their new pretend television. My children always end up making me laugh hysterically when engaging in this activity.

• If you are more daring, go out to your local hardware store and purchase blackboard paint. Choose a wall in your house and cover it with the chalkboard paint. I chose to paint a 6' x 6' square on my living room wall and have not regretted it once. Every time I look, there is a new drawing on the wall. In order to avoid conflict in my house, we have a rule that no one can erase the current drawing until it has been photographed digitally.

I hope these ideas help you start down the path to a more creative lifestyle. As an artist and writer, I'll be posting ideas on how to stimulate more creativity in your family on a regular basis. If you don't want to miss upcoming articles, click the "subscribe" button to receive emails whenever I update my column. Happy homeschooling!

Sitting in the movie theater watching Star Trek this past weekend, almost brought tears to my eyes. To view a movie that actually has a plot line that twists and turns enough to not be formulaic is a rarity. Being a long-time Trekkie, I didn't know what to expect when I walked into the theater. Could new actors and a new director match the creativity and depth seen in previous Star Trek movies and tv shows? Apparently, the answer is yes. Creativity is a part of life worthy of high appreciation. Movies, like other art forms, can be used to motivate the viewer to further artistic expression. For example, well told stories like the one presented in Star Trek can be a jumping off point for new stories and adventures.

How can you weave more creativity into your home life or homeschooling day? Put away the school books and get out the art supplies, the video camera, pens, pencils, papers, dvd's, and anything else that excites you or your children. When my son was eight years old, my husband started teaching him how to make stop-action animation movies and live action movies using our video camera. My son ended up making a series of three movies centered around alien life, several stop-action lego movies, and more recently, pretend Heinz Ketchup commercials (see Youtube video below). Making movies was a fantastic way to foster his skills in dialog creation and art. Here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing in your house

• Go to the library and take out music cd's in various genres such as classical, jazz, techno, etc. Get out some markers, crayons, paints and paper and have your children interpret the music into drawings, colorings or paintings. Discuss how the tempos and flow of the music can effect the lengths of the lines used and the colors chosen.

• Get out your digital camera and exit your front door. Without going further than five feet from your door, let each child choose an item to photograph in a new way. Perhaps they will focus on the doorknob close up or lay down on your sidewalk and shoot something from below. Even the most mundane objects can be made interesting if you capture them in an unexpected way. Photojojo.com is a great site to visit for photography-related ideas.

• Take out all of your old magazines, glue sticks, and cardboard or poster board. Have your children cut out squares of color from the photographs and then sort the squares by color. Next, encourage them to create a picture by pasting the squares onto the board.

• Get a large cardboard box and cut out a "window" in the front of the box. Have your children decorate the outside of the box with crayons or markers to resemble a television. Next, let your children act out their own tv shows, commercials, and interviews through their new pretend television. My children always end up making me laugh hysterically when engaging in this activity.