Intensity and focus. Autonomy and trust. Sudbury Art.

What materials can be used to create for the sake of creating? Cardboard and scissors, clear tape, hot glue, markers, pens, a brown bag with handles… These aren’t laid out for our students. No patterns are given. And so, so much more is experienced.

A mom in our community recently shared her younger daughter’s graded preschool coloring pages - graded coloring pages - with a written scolding from the teacher about color choice. If there’s a clearly prescribed “right way” to color, what else will become rigidly framed as “right” or “wrong” in a child’s mind? What hesitations, self doubts, and deep fears of external authority will come to permeate the subconscious? I would argue more than we can imagine. Or perhaps we can imagine from our own experiences of correction, evaluation, competition, and even punishment.

In contrast, Sudbury students don’t wait for a coloring sheet, they make the lines they’ll choose to color inside or outside of. Each project is born of their imagination, not adult instruction. And they’re not waiting for adult evaluation! This matters greatly because we know that real life requires real initiative. It can start with choosing art materials and extend to choosing satisfying hobbies, relationships, and professions. Is that such a leap? Over half a century of Sudbury graduates report this very progression.

Learning to trust yourself… Learning that trial and error doesn’t need to feel like being on trial… Having your hand at the wheel of self-direction early on provides the practice needed to steer one’s life ship more confidently as the waters get bigger and more challenging.

Cardboard characters and other such creations are so much more than cute little crafts. They are exciting extensions of imagination, the application of genuine effort, and signs that a child has the time and space to practice the art of living.