Play, Make, Create, A Process-Art Handbook

With over 40 Art Invitations for Kids * Creative Activities and Projects that Inspire Confidence, Creativity, and Connection

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Pub Date 11 Jun 2019 | Archive Date 23 Jul 2019

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Description

Packed with fun, edifying, and joyful art experiences, Play, Make, Create is filled with simple, yet powerful, "art invitations" that are focused on the making and doing, not just the final projects. 

Founded in a process-based philosophy, this unique book includes over 40 activities set up as invitations—carefully designed prompts or provocations to play or make something. Author Meri Cherry has over 20 years of teaching experience, and her blog www.mericherry.com has set the standard for meaningful and enriching process art experiences that are both manageable for moms, and engaging and fun for kids.

Play, Make, Create begins with an in-depth guide for parents, teachers, and facilitators that shares all the details—how to set up materials in an inviting way, how to present the activity and talk to kids about art, and how to stock your cabinets with the right materials for ongoing creativity, plus best-practice tips for clean up, trouble shooting, and more.

Within the book, parents will find four types of creative invitations. Invitations to Explore are process-based, open-ended activities that are set up for ongoing play and discovery. Invitations to Create inspire children to make something. By exploring, playing, and discovering what the materials offer, children will create exciting projects such as salt paintings, a mini book, a shadow box, puppets, nature crafts, clay sculptures and more, each with completely individual results. Invitations to Play are sensory-based activities such as making doughs, slime, moving toys, and more. Lastly, there are Invitations to Collaborate. These are fun group projects, perfect for playdates, families, classrooms, and parties.  

As children explore the activities in Play, Make, Create, they are engaged in active, meaningful, and socially interactive learning. Children are encouraged to wonder, to experiment, and to use critical thinking—and most of all, enjoy the process. By following their own inclinations and making their own choices, children gain self-confidence and hone their problem solving skills.

GetPlay, Make, Create and give your children the gift of creativity. These activities wake up kids' brains and get them busy doing things. The tactile, colorful, and engaging materials also offer a way to decompress and relax, as well as build fine motor and critical thinking skills. Giving your children these creative play opportunities is a way to say "I love you. I thought about you. You are important to me. Your ideas are important to me."
Packed with fun, edifying, and joyful art experiences, Play, Make, Create is filled with simple, yet powerful, "art invitations" that are focused on the making and doing, not just the final projects. 

...

Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781631597169
PRICE US$25.99 (USD)
PAGES 160

Average rating from 24 members


Featured Reviews

I absolutely loved this book. First, the approach on the process of art over the final product is exactly how creativity is stimulated and kids don't always get to experience it: if the have an art program at school at all, it will probably be more product oriented. So, just on the premise, I knew this book would work for me. But then the book itself is well organized, well explained, packed with ideas, and has great images. A winner on all counts for me and a book I would happily gift to my friends!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Play, Make, Crate describes a variety of fun activities with a focus on creating be the best part of the process. There are a variety f fun projects from simple paintings to more complex paper mache projects. The author tells you how to deal with the mess and the rules she uses in her own house about things such as slime. These guided activities are fun and creative.

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I recognize the importance of process art but I don't always know exactly what I need to do to successfully inspire it. This book has given me a lot of ideas and inspiration. I think my biggest obstacle has always been trying to decide and discover new materials to use so I feel like even if we don't do the specific activities described in this book, I now have some ideas for new materials that will hopefully inspire now ideas.

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I am always looking for ideas for projects and activities to share with students. Great projects, well done explanations, and wonderful photos make this a great resource.

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Thanks to #NetGalley and #QuarryBooks for giving me the chance to read this book.

What a fun book this is! Lots of cool ideas using things you have around the house. Or items that wouldn't take much to find.
The pictures are great. The directions are clear.

Totally recommend this book for anyone with a small child or work with small kids.

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Process-Art, what's that? It's art where the process of creation is more important than the result. It's about having fun with materials and colours. This book is full with ideas to use for process art, or as Meri Cherry put it, invitations to create. From collages, to homemade slime, to clay donuts - so many interesting projects.

The book provides materials lists, how tos and information on how messy the project could become. It's clear that the author is a mother and knows how out of hand some hands on sessions can get.

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A very creative book indeed with a lot of ideas, inspirations... well pictured and explained.
I really enjoyed the variety of it. The only thing I would have loved to see was age rank on top under the activity name. Otherwise it’s perfect.
Pictures are beautiful & colourful. Really want to try all of them with my kids. I’m following the author on social media’s now that I read the book, I loved.

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I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.


There is some GREAT information in this book. Especially for a mom like me who has NO idea what she's doing! My kids loved this book too!

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What I liked the most about this book is the fact that it is consistent with its child-focused, process rather than product philosophy. The activities are not ready made lessons for tired teachers and caregivers, but invitations to explore, create and play. Mostly easy to set up, they are open-ended and will engage your children's senses and imagination. I was hooked straightaway as soon as I saw salt painting, cotton pad colour mix and papier mache unicorns. But there is so much more...Draw what you don't see, hammer time, corn starch homemade slime and volcano eruptions? I am going to have so much fun using this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Quarry Books (Quarto Publishing Group) for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

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We have all been there, school holidays, kids are complaining that they are bored and they have friends over with nothing to do. Well this book will be a life saver, not only will it keep them amused for hours but they will be creative and had fun too.
Great projects, well explained and a bit messy, but what the heck, they will enjoy themselves. I love the papier mache unicorn in particular, but all the projects are fun and many a little less messy.
A great book to get the creative juices following

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It's very rare for me to be disappointed by a crafts or arts book from Quarto Publishing Group, and this one is yet another winner, full of fun, color, adventure and exploration. And all this from simple ingredients. The book covers painting and crafts projects as well as out-and-out fun projects such as making your own play dough, and your own slime!

An author with the most amazing of names - Meri Cherry - brings over forty projects - she calls them invitations, because really that's what they are: invitations for younger children (and likely older ones as well) to indulge in process art. What is that exactly? The author explains, but in short it really means the point of these projects isn't the destination; it's the journey - the learning of self-sufficiency, the growing of confidence, the freedom of exploration, and the joy of creativity.

The projects include collage, salt painting, self portraits int he mirror, covering a picture with clear plastic and paining on top of that to augment the original image, drawing with eyes closed, creating 'artist trading cards', and oobleck. Yeah, that one caught me by surprise because I'd never heard it called that before and I'm not a fan of Dr Seuss. The technical term for it is a non-Newtonian fluid, which is how I know it, but oobleck works better with kids! The thing is this term was introduced before it was defined (with a recipe!) on page 40, so I was lost for a while on that one!

That aside, the book was amazing, fun, and inventive, with internal links to things that are referenced in the text. These links never have a link back to where you were, unfortunately, but my app has a feature which allows you to return to the original page after a jump like that. The problem is that Bluefire reader - an app I normally swear by for reading ebooks, got into trouble when I reached page forty - I think it was.

It wouldn't swipe past there for love or money (I tried both!) and even when I slid the little bar at the bottom of the screen, the image wouldn't switch to the next page. I don't know what that was all about. I was able to download the ARC to Adobe Digital Editions and finish reading it in there, fortunately. Just FYI! I'm not the kind of reviewer who merits a print book, which is fine with me, but it does occasionally lead to technical difficulties!

The book covers a large variety of projects, including ice sculpture (after a fashion - no chain saws involved!), volcanic eruptions, potions, and crazy contraptions in addition to a bunch of regular art ideas, so no matter what your charge is into, this book doubtlessly has a bunch of things that will interest them. I commend it as fun, educational, and confidence-building. The book even includes tips about clean up (or avoiding it by staying clean, which is even better), so what's not to like?!

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This book is all about focusing on the process of art making rather than the finished art product. It is a fantastic philosophy to adhere to because we can get so caught up in perfection that we forget about the enjoyment and importance of the creative process itself.
With a range of projects (which clearly identify the materials, top tips, photos, and guidelines) this book is a fantastic place for parents, carers, educational staff, care staff, and anyone working with children and young people to start engaging in the creative process alongside children.
The photos are bold, engaging, inspiring and offer lots of encouragement through the book’s invitiation to create. 4*.

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A lovely book full of hands on art activities and creative projects. This is a great addition to any bookshelf to open it up on a rainy day! The photos are high quality and really help with your set up.

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It is a fantastic book for all parents. For me, a big "no TV" supporter, it is a real treasure. The book is reach on a different types of activities, where all you need is 15-30 minutes of your time and as a result you will get a full of joy child with creative thinking and happy memories. The book became our favorite right away. Children want to try EVERYTHING! We are using it constantly working on a new projects and doing again and again the ones we liked the most.
I will be definitely looking for more books of Meri Cherry.
Thanks very much to the author and NetGalley for a review copy, All opinions are mine.

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Great ideas for projects for kids and you to try. Age ion projects did seem a little limited, but first time moms especially will likely love this book. Some of the tips on setup and cleanup might seem a bit common sense but again not everyone just knows how to do all things and this is comprehensive and helpful.

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Fun book about art that explains activity projects well. The book is easy to understand. Photos are also well done. Would recommend.

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This book is fantastic! It is clearly laid out, explains the idea of what process art is and then gives an abundance of ideas to use. I have already set up a coupl of invitation to create ideas for my son from this book and they were simple to do and he had so much fun. I can imagine I will be able to easily adapt some of these ideas to my classroom too. An easy to read, well thought out book.

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This book has so much activities to keep the kids busy and creative! Such a fun fun book! And a wonderful resource for even non-artistic parents like me.

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Play, Make, Create is an infinitely useful and inspiring guide, a gateway to bringing process-art into your home in a playful way that encourages experimentation and builds creativity and self-confidence in young children. It’s easy to see the expertise and understanding of childhood development that author Meri Cherry commands, expertly demonstrating how to use art as a way to connect with your child, spark joy and courage, and develop spatial, motor, and mental skills.

Cherry has a knack for making art simple and accessible to any family, always leaving space for adaptation and flexibility to customise an experience based on the child’s age, interests and home life. She speaks fantastically about making art easy to set up, organise and run - a sure recipe for making art time a regular and natural part of the weekly schedule.

There is an emphasis on minimising mess and stress for happier parents and happier kids, in fact, Cherry has wonderful advice for every part of the creative process from brainstorming to set up to execution and display. Particularly useful are her tips on how to talk to your children about the process and result to build confidence, resilience and curiosity.

I quite enjoyed reading through this filled-with-great-ideas book, and am excited for the adventures that introducing process-art to our children are sure to bring

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This book is full of wonderful ideas and tips for my young children to create and play with art. We've enjoyed many of the ideas and will continue to use this book.

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A creative and interesting book of art 'invitationals'. These are basic art ideas to inspire kids' creativity. The publishers describe them as "simple, yet powerful, 'art invitations' that are focused on the making and doing" and they really do deliver.

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