Tuesday 11 March 2014

Kids have the Best Ideas by Jane Clarke


 Kids have the best ideas

I'm in the middle of three hectic weeks of World Book Day visits to infant schools and nurseries. I love school visits - they keep me in touch with the age groups I write for and fire me with enthusiasm.  And young children have such wonderful ideas…

Teddies are sliding down rainbows to swim with sharks, 




floating around on balloons




and a fairy teddy is living in the stars.



 Creatures of all shapes and sizes are hatching out of eggs




 and sometimes they make lovely pets




Gilbert (my great white shark) is starring in all sorts of new stories



Castles are being discovered - this one's made of wood and visted by cloud dragons




and this one's made of candy and populated with purple princess unicorns.





I'm having so much fun and I'm so impressed by the children's imaginations. Thanks to all the schools who have invited me to visit – and congratulations to all the young writers and illustrators out there!




5 comments:

Pippa Goodhart said...

Wonderful stuff, Jane! I especially love that bumpy rainbow. Small children are the best at simply jumping into imaginative ideas, and that's an important lesson to us (supposed) grown-ups.

Michelle Robinson said...

Absolutely smashing stuff, Jane! It's always my favourite part, seeing what the kids are inspired to create. I love all those Gilberts, he's a firm favourite in the Robinson household. Hope you're having a great time on your World Book Day visits.

Moira Butterfield said...

Joyous! Thank you Jane. I feel very weighed down by grown-up stuff at the moment, and this is a great reminder to go and play like a child.

Paeony Lewis said...

You've made me smile, Jane, with teddies sliding down rainbows. I adore it when children stretch their imaginations. Do you find it can sometimes take a while to get them going and that just one or two children with good imaginations can inspire the others?

Jane Clarke said...

We usually start talking about real things, then pretend, then they take off from there and yes, they do get inspired by each other's ideas. These ideas come from sessions of around 30-40 mins (then I have to move on to another group, so I rarely get to see or hear their finished stories).