During Spring 2020, Rainbows quickly became a symbol of hope and connection around the world. Our Atelierista has long noticed that many children paint rainbows in The Studio. They enjoy exploring the shapes and colors. Some rainbows are traditional arches, but many are stripes along the paper or rainbow circles. We even had one whole wall dedicated to rainbows at last year's Art Show. I have not observed the children painting or talked to them about their rainbow experiences to understand why rainbows. But when rainbows started popping up during the Pandemic, I knew we needed to springboard from the children's natural curiosity about rainbows and explore the rainbows in our community.
Exploring our Neighborhoods One thing we could do during this time, was be outdoors. Many families were grabbing their strollers, scooters, and bikes and taking walks around their neighborhoods. I invited children and families to hunt for colorful houses while on their walks, take a photo, and send it to me. Together, we built a collaborative rainbow of houses.
In pausing to notice other people's houses, children had the opportunity to wonder: "who lives there?" "are they staying home too?" "is there a family like mine living there?" "are there grandmas and grandpas living there?"
These reflections might lead to feeling less isolated and alone--all these other houses also have people inside, waiting for a rainbow to appear.
We played with colors
We experimented with colors
We created rainbows!
We discovered new ways of making rainbows in our homes
In a gray time, we looked for colors, created our own rainbows...our own hope.