BE KIND! SPREAD THE FEELING ONE STONE AT A TIME!
First you need some flat, paintable rocks. Decorate your rock — getting as creative as you like — and seal it. Somewhere on the rock print or write #KindStones. This hash tag will tell people it is part of the KindStones project. Hide your rock and take a picture. Post to the Facebook page and add some clues.
Start hunting for rocks painted by other people and families. You can choose to create and hide, while others will participate in it all; painting, hiding, and finding. If you find a rock, you can either re-hide it or keep it. Lots of people choose to keep their first rock and then re-hide the rest. Don’t forget to print the hashtag #KindStones on the rock.
Family friendly, get out and search, build literacy skills, have fun!
On September 8th, 11:30 am to 2:00 pm, between Colossi’s and Evelyn’s, downtown High River supplies will be available to paint stones. On September 30th at the Grate Groan Up Spelling Bee and Cardboard Challenge supplies will be available for familes and individuals.
Art has long been known to have therapeutic properties. In creating visual images, people ‘draw’ on the right side of their brains. This same side is used before spoken language develops and is where visual memories are stored. Creativity is also well recognised for its potential to heal people, express hidden emotions, reduce stress, fear and anxiety, and promote a sense of autonomy. Engaging people and the community in the arts can inspire and motivate, opening up new possibilities for creative expression and imagination. It can stimulate a person’s ability to question and connect with the world around them, and nurture positive aspirations, confidence and the capacity for autonomous critical thought. It can also help people to develop the resilience to manage challenging life circumstances. Arts experiences challenge people’s sense of themselves in a very different way to formal education, providing different opportunities for people to explore their identity, skills and abilities. There may also be greater emphasis on process than on the outcomes or products required of more traditional approaches. As a consequence, people report a sense of enjoyment and achievement in creating art and can also demonstrate greater levels of motivation, improved self-esteem, self-awareness, resilience and community engagement. Many evaluations of arts interventions document their effectiveness in re-engaging people in education and developing skills that are transferable and as relevant to developing literacy and numeracy as to making art. Art can provide people with a voice.