When we are tired and need peace, a blank sheet of paper and coloring pencils become our saving solution. The child is happy, and so are we. Usually, we expect a drawing of a character from a favorite cartoon or a family in the park. However, sometimes they surprise us with something completely unbelievable and unexpected: leaves falling onto clouds, a colorful headband on the gloomy bus driver, a blue ice cream so cold it doesn’t melt in the sun, and similar things. We laugh and ask, “Where did you get that from? How did you think of that?”

Whether using crayons, tempera, markers, collage, or something else, at that moment the child creates something entirely different. Captivated by a feeling of creative freedom, in a corner where no boundaries exist, holding a piece of paper that can become an airplane, a monster, a broom, or the universe — the child “borrows” parts of reality and combines them in a changed context. Grandma’s hat lands on the head of a planet as a shield from rockets, mom’s eyes take the shape of the sun because they always shine, in the park stands a veeeeeery big ice cream fridge that can be eaten even at night.

Everything the child has seen, heard, felt, or experienced forms their experience. While imagining, the child takes pieces of experience, combines real things, and creates something new based on how they perceive reality at that moment. That is why we say that a child’s creativity and imagination depend greatly on their experiences — the environment and situations they are exposed to every day. Sometimes it is enough for children to hear another’s experience, stories, and impressions to create their own version of events. The child imagines what grandma’s vegetable garden once looked like and transfers that image onto paper. As we watch, listen, and live, we develop emotions about events, which also influence how we paint the changed reality on paper. A character from a cartoon that scared us will have a scary look on paper, or we will color a toy black because that’s the one our brother never wants to share.

The most beautiful gift of a child’s imagination is something the child has created: made or drawn. The child’s thoughts and feelings speak about the child just as much as when they verbally address us and comment on grandma’s hat, the ice cream ban at night, or the nervous bus driver. Knowing how important it is to encourage our nonverbal expression, we enriched our week at kindergarten with a visit to the Center for Visual Arts Education, surrounded by canvases, brushes, and our imagination. So, let us call on adults to hear us once more: it is up to adults to give us, children, experiences — and to listen to our experiences even when we are silent.