I don’t know about you, but one of my favourite things about going to Bunnings is the paint-chip aisle. They’re fun, fabulous and free!
I also love them because, as John Ruskin wrote, ‘the purest and most thoughtful of minds are those which love colour the most.’ And indeed it is this thoughtfulness which I love about paint-chips; in contemplating the various tonal shades and the names, which oftentimes inspire so much more than just a mood, but an entire image, place or thought. Language which elevates and inspires is something I seek through poetry and literature – little wonder affirmations likewise take my fancy.
I have used paint chips a lot in my classroom teaching (I am tempted to share some of my ideas here with some downloadable templates) and find them a quick and invigorating way to add, well, colour to any given lesson. They’re quick and accessible and fun – not to mention – free! I also find that they do just elevate the imagination a little, allowing students to think outside the box whilst connecting to their other senses. In fact, paint chips are a great way to talk about evoking the senses in our writing, and you can easily use them to discuss the olfactory (smell), tactile (touch), visual (see) as well as gustatory (taste) and auditory senses (hear).
These school holidays I decided to update my vision board. If you have a vision board, you might use magazine cuttings or inspirational pictures. I decided I needed to have more inspirational words on mine. And importantly, they had to be MY OWN words. And a quick and fun way to present them? Why, paint chips, of course!
My eldest daughter is currently 9, and like so many pre-teens of her generation, loves anything colourful or sparkly or crafty. I thought this would be a fun activity to do together. We used Anko Acrylic Paint Markers from Kmart (a 36 pack costs $20.00) which were perfect for layering colour and embellishing our paint chips.
As you can see, she absolutely loved writing her own paint chip affirmations, and to make is more of a thoughtful challenge, I specified she had to incorporate the name of the colour in her affirmation. She came up with some amazing affirmations, including ‘Shine like the golden moon’ for Golden Moon Yellow, and ‘Feel fizzy and happy’ for Fizzy Pink. While my little girl loved just drawing and writing her own little happy thoughts on them, my big girl loved the challenge I set for her, and it just goes to show how creative kids can be in creating their own positive affirmations!
So I invite you to pick up a few colourful paint chips when you’re next in your local hardware store and get the creative juices flowing. It’s so fun seeing what our children can come up with, don’t you think? And see if you can find my paint chips on my updated vision board. Can you spot them?
Happy vision boarding!
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