November, 2025
I started to create a drawing ritual after rest time in the afternoon. The first few days were slow, and the children mostly drew on their own in different areas, not wanting others to join or draw in the space they chose to draw in. One morning we went on a walk up behind the center into the hills and up to a small clearing/field. The children were intrigued by the new surroundings, running and jumping around. Playing without objects or toys, just themselves and nature.
Later that day, during the drawing ritual I had created, I came with the intention of seeing what the children had seen on our walk earlier in the day. I asked them to draw what they saw when we walked up into the hills, to a field where the children were able to run freely about. I wanted to invoke some deeper thinking by remembering specific things that they saw earlier that day. Some children drew rocks, as another teacher had asked the children to find a rock to bring back to the classroom for a different project. Some drew mountains, a few drew some flowers, and a rainbow. One child drew a spider, and two children drew something a bit more interesting: a hot air balloon and a lion.
HOT AIR BALLOON
Educator: What’s this one?
S: A hot balloon.
Educator: A what? Sorry?
S: A hot balloon?
Educator: You saw a hot balloon today?! What colour was it?
S: Pink!
Educator: Pink? Did it have people on it?
S: Yeah.
Educator: Yeah? How many?
S: cups hands together
Educator: A few?
S: nods head
Educator: Yeah. Do you know how hot air balloons work?
S: shakes head
Educator: No?
F: There’s fire, and it blows it up!
Educator: Yeah! The fire creates hot air that inflates
the balloon part and makes it float.
INVISIBLE LION
Educator: Did he have big eyes?
T: Only these eyes
Educator: Only these ones. Did he roar at you?
T: No, he likes me
Educator: He likes you? Oh, okay, does that mean he hangs out with you?
T: He was smiling to me.
Educator: He was smiling at you?
T: He has lots of feet
Educator: He has lots of legs. How many legs does he have?
T: Fifteen!
Educator: Fifteen! What colour is this lion?
T: Um, it’s a normal one that it was.
Educator: The normal colour? The yellow gold colour?
T: Yeah
Educator: Did the lion tell you his name?
T: He roared out his name, and he said “Reeh” like his name was Reeh
Educator: Reeh? That’s a cool name.
*new day*
T: This is the lion that I saw
Educator: Oh, you’re going to draw your lion again? I definitely want to see your lion again. Are you going to draw his fifteen legs?
T: Yeah. This one has a broken leg.
Educator: That’s unfortunate. How did he break his leg?
T: He didn’t actually broke his leg, I’m just pretending.
Educator: Are you done with your drawing?
T: Yeah.
Educator: Is there anything different about him this time?
T: No.
Educator: Did you see him again today?
T: Yeah.
Educator: Was he outside?
T: Yes.
Educator: Yeah
T: He followed me when I went outside. He can go in walls. He’s in the wall right now.
Educator: He’s in the wall right now?
T: He’s in the wall.
Educator: Is he invisible then?
T: Yeah.
Educator: So we can’t see him, only you can?
T: Yep. I can see when he’s invisible.
Educator: Yeah? Does he still not like H’s head?
T: *shakes head*
Educator: Yeah, no? Doesn’t like him still?
T: He doesn’t like anybody; he only likes me.
Educator: So, he only shows himself to you?
T: Yeah.
Educator: He only likes you?
T: Yeah.
Educator: I wish I could see him. That would be really cool.
This conversation makes me think that this child is making himself a new friend when in a different environment that doesn’t have toys or activities like the gated outdoor play area. The child is having a conversation through his drawing while also putting his imagination onto the paper; he is visualizing his friend. The image of the child here is more obedient, complacent, and “inside the box”.
I came back a few days later with the same paper but a new material to draw with: black markers. I asked the children to create new drawings on top of the pencil drawings from the previous week. I intended to see if the children would create something new or if they would go over the pencil lines and build on what was previously created. I wanted the children to think deeply about their drawings and to see what thoughts had formed with the new and old drawings on the collective paper. One child who had previously drawn with the pencils came over and re-drew his previous drawing, as other children who hadn’t previously drawn on the paper came over and made new creations and stories.
Educator: With his 15 legs, how does he get around? Does he move?
T: Yes
Educator: How does he move?
T: like this arms wide and he just runs, he runs.
Educator: With all 15 legs?
T: Yeah
Educator: Does he have some on one side and some on the other side?
T: Yeah.
Educator: Or maybe does he have some legs in the middle?
T: he has two on this side and… four on the other side
Educator: On the other side? okay. And he has more legs we can’t see?
T: Yes has lots of legs
Educator: Can his legs do anything other than run?
T: Yeah
Educator: What can they do?
T: They can do a backflip
Educator: A backflip?! How did he learn how to do a backflip?
T: cause he’s a teenager
Educator: Oh, he’s a teenager? Oh, okay, so he’s older than you.
Mentor-Educator: Did you hear that T’s lion can do a backflip? What would that even look like?
Educator: Do you think you can draw the lion doing a backflip?
Mentor-Educator: Whoa, do you think you could? How would it look? Do you wanna try it out?
pause
Mentor-Educator: Can you draw the lion doing a backflip?
T: he can’t… he can’t move.
Mentor-Educator: This lion can’t move?
T: he can’t move on this paper.
Mentor-Educator: Oh, he can’t move on this paper… hmm. I’m gonna write that down. The lion can move, but he can’t move on this paper. So the lion, it’s hard to draw a backflip cause he says the lion can move, but he can’t move on this paper.
Educator: Oh, so you said he went into the walls the other day. How does he go into the walls?
T: um.. he’s really strong.
Educator: So, can he get off the paper onto the walls?
T: No!
Educator: No?
T: Paper can’t move
Educator: It can’t?
T: Yeah.
Educator: Are you sure?
A: Yes, it can! moves paper with hand back and forth
Mentor-Educator: Wait… Oh! This paper is moving.
Educator: Yeah!
T: No! She’s holding it
Educator: But the paper is still moving. So is this the lion or just a drawing of the lion?
T: Um, this is just a drawing
Educator: Just a drawing, okay.
Mentor-Educator: A drawing of a lion that you saw? In the walls?
Educator: You originally saw him in the field, right?
T: nods head
Educator: And then he came to the classroom with you? And he was in the walls?
T: nods head again
Educator: Okay, just making sure we got it all right.
A: I’m making a crown monster. Crown monster!
Mentor-Educator: Crown monster… we’ve got a crown monster over here. Have you ever heard of a crown monster?
T: Nope
Mentor-Educator: What is a crown monster? What’s the story of a crown monster?
T: I thought that it was a queen bee.
Mentor-Educator: Oh, was it a queen bee last time? Oh, it’s turned into a crown monster, it sounds like.
Educator: Do you think the crown monster and lion could be friends?
A: Maybe!
T: No
Educator: Lions not allowed to have any other friends?
A: Yes, he is!
Mentor-Educator: But that’s what T is saying
Educator: T’s saying he’s not allowed any other friends
T: he can have more, but I get to control him, I… I.. I control him right now.
Mentor-Educator: You’re controlling him? I’m curious about why you control him not to having other friends?
T: I can help him make more friends
Mentor-Educator: So you can say no friends, and you can say lots of friends?
T: nods
Educator: Is he your pet lion then?
T: Yes
Educator: Does he come home with you
T: Yep
Mentor-Educator: Hey, it looks like whatever X’s is making is getting closer to your crown monster. What I see in her story is lots of lines and dots. I’m going to make some lines like X.
T: Why are you making lines?
Mentor-Educator: cause X showed me how. She’s also got some dots on hers. I’m going to put some dots all the way onto the crown monster.
A: I already got dots on my crown monster
Educator: I see. What are the dots on the crown monster? Can you tell me what they are?
A: They’re the eyes
Educator: Oh, how many eyes does it have?
A: one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen seventeen eighteen nineteen!
Educator: Nineteen eyes?
Mentor-Educator: Have you ever seen a creature with nineteen eyes before?
A: Yeah!
Educator: Yeah? Is it the crown monster?
A: Yes!
Educator: Yeah? Where did you see him?
A: The shop
Educator: The shop? What shop?
A: Um, at the crown shop. There was a crown monster there.
Educator: What was the crown monster doing?
A It was… It was trying to look for food.
Educator: Well, what does it eat?
A: Chicken noodles.
Mentor-Educator: When someone with nineteen eyes, how does they see?
A: They colour!
Mentor-Educator: they can see colours? Is that what you mean?
A: They see things on the ground that’s got left behind.
Mentor-Educator: Did you hear that T? That a crown monster with 19 eyes can see things that were left behind by other people. So what you’re saying is that a crown monster with 19 eyes can see things that got left behind on the ground by other people. What do you think about that idea?
T: It’s weird.
Mentor-Educator: Weird? I think it’s a little weird, too.
*inaudible*
Mentor-Educator: Oh, it can see more good because it’s got so many eyes, is that what you said?
T: No, you can put stuff in their eyes that makes them, help them see more good.
Mentor-Educator: Did you hear that A? T had the idea that you can put things inside the eyes to make them see more good?
Educator: What are you thinking of putting in the eyes to make them see better?
A: Jewels!
This conversation isn’t over, but I wanted to pause and take a look at what is happening here. A is being creative and intentional with her drawing. She is giving her drawing a story, a background, and details. T is chiming in, being more intentional with his drawing and giving his friend more details. He is deepening this thought process and getting more creative as he goes. My Mentor-Educator was also here during this time and asked some very thought-provoking questions that got the children building their stories and telling them as they kept drawing. The image of the child here is capable, creative, intentional, and curious. They also show their they have language skills through their storytelling. This has changed since the first few collaborative drawings that I have some in this classroom over the past few weeks. I am also giving them the conditions for the type of deep, creative thinking that they are doing here to show them that they are capable, competent, and coming with knowledge. These children are challenging the image of the child from the previous week, as well as within the conditions and environment of their classroom.
I sat with a few children and just got them to colour in my sketchbook and one child drew what she calls a rainbow ghost. The rainbow ghost has eyes but no mouth and no feet so he floats around. My mentor-teacher asked “what does a ghost sound like when they’re moving?” One child suggested they don’t sound like anything. Another child responded with a gesture.