The Story Behind Creative Café

 

Oliver creating Noah's Ark & Ella painting a Mary Garden!

Many years ago, my daughter asked me, "Mommy, can we pretend this is a café where we make art?" and ever since then, the idea of our "Creative Café" has stuck. 

Creative Café is about creating an experience that keeps my children coming back to the table for shared time together, contemplating, creating, and celebrating art, stories, and beautiful ideas! 

When my kids look back on their childhood, I want them to remember moments like this, painting together, with relaxing music playing. It doesn't always have to involve refreshments, but they love it when it does! Sometimes, I offer my children a menu and let them choose a refreshment to enjoy while they work. 

In my shop, you can find a variety of workshops (many of which are free!) designed to be used during your Creative Café time. Each workshop follows the framework I created to structure our Creative Café time. It involves contemplating, conversing, connecting, collecting, creating, and celebrating the works created during the workshop. 

You may also wish to simply have some "casual" café time, as pictured above, where your children choose their own projects, write in their writer's notebooks, and collect inspiration for future writing/art. 

Creative Café is a fabulous way to inspire creative writers and thinkers. You can check out my free Creative Café: The Basics guide to get started or jump right in by downloading one of my print-and-go Creative Café workshop guides!  

Additionally, I run a website for middle-grade students, CreativeCafe.org, which offers inspiration and "spark your creativity" writing and art-based prompts that can be completed in a writer's notebook!

🎨 Need some ideas to get started? Check out the Creative Café Time we have enjoyed together!