A Robot Family

We have had art material at the kids disposal since Gabriel was an infant. Rarely, if ever, does Gabriel make a creation without direction. Sometimes he will use a marker to color legos or paint to change the color of his cars but that is the extent of his child led art experience, until yesterday! Gabriel brought a black circle with a face drawn on it home from school. He talked about robots all the way home. He immediately went to the art area, pulled out the scissors, glue, and paper and created his robot. Gabriel showed immense pride when he showed me his creation.

This might seem like a small task for another parent of an 8 year old. Most children have been creating art for years at this point. I, however, have never seen my 8 year old do this. It took planning and processing for him to complete this goal. He was capable of organizing his world and bringing his idea from school to home. This is HUGE for him. He doesn't like to cut or write because it's difficult for him. Gabriel was capable of completing not only one robot but three paper robots and they look like robots! They have little faces, arms, legs, and bodies. It is the small steps in our world. When I think about everything he had to process and perform in order to accomplish this task, I am blown away. How far we have come!