Learn by Creating

Let’s see, where do I start? When my mom bought me a jewelry making kit for my birthday, I could feel the creative juices coming back! I would use materials from all over to make my creations: buttons, play-dough, even acorn caps! The set also included crafting wire, which opened the door to wrapping stones and objects in several designs I can find. Later simple things around me become meaningful and a great alternative to buying gifts for my friends.

Create by Up-cycling

Up-cycling doesn’t have to only be random clutter. With broken boards from the old taekwondo days, wood became part of the creating process. Using my window as a natural light table(talk about being creative), I traced out various shapes to later make into charms and wood etchings. During this process, I learned the basic properties of word, so I could craft with it. This allowed me to help out my Dad with various jobs around the house, like sanding down and painting the walls or as simple as assembling furnitures.

Create by Putting Sound

Creating doesn’t have to involve materials. You can create sound too! I currently have four songs in production right now. Using the keyboard in my room, I put together chords to make melodies. Not only is it fun, it is a healthy, wholesome way to process emotions. I have a great time discovering rhymes and different words while telling a story through song. But what if you don’t have the best singing voice? You could just tell a story by, well, telling a story!

Create by Writing

Creative writing or simply put, journaling, is another great way to process feelings and memories. As a writer, you have all the control over your story. For example, if you’ve recently lost a competition or been denied access to some cool place, you could write a scenario where your characters dominate the competition or explore the unknown. Thereby, creating your own reality.

Create by Coding

Here’s my secret, my Mom is well versed with technology. She introduced me to Python as a starting coding language. Over the years, I’ve gotten better and even created some of my own programs to play around with. From a rock, paper, scissors, game to a program that helps me study Teen Bible Quiz(link), I’ve mostly used coding to create tools to help me out in everyday life. It’s like being a mechanic, forging your own tools from scratch—but with code instead of metal.

Create by STEM Project

The same spirit of building and fixing things carried over into STEM projects, which truly brought out the mechanic in me. Now, I’m the go-to person in my family (besides my dad) for assembling furniture and fixing door hinges, etc. I even got to work with wires! Thankfully, I didn’t get electrocuted (yet!)

Create by Gardening

Gardening is fun. I remember my family one summer gathered seeds, compost, and patience to create a garden right in our backyard! We planted and harvested plenty of produce like strawberries, cilantro, celery, and ampalaya(bitter gourd, which really lives up to its name btw). It was so cool to see how the things we learned in science happening right in front of us. Since we started planting in winter, we had to plant the seeds in our garage aka our plant nursery, to grow and wait until spring.

Learn by Doing

John DEWEY

On this blog, we’ll delve deeper into all the ways that I know of to expand the world your five year old self used to live in: your world of creativity.