CREATIVITY & WISDOM
"The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery is a small novella, first published in 1943 - one of the most loved and most translated books in the world (translated to over 300 languages and dialects).
The story caught the attention of the Dare2Wow team because of the fantastic and imaginative world that it reveiles - a world of simple wisdon, true more to the children than the adults who growing older become more and more concerned with the many things that surround us. And the end result is: not remembering what really is importnat!
Dare2Wow's motto has and will remain to be: Be brave, be kind, have imagination and DARE to WOW the world around!
Dare2Wow presents this inspirational subject as an activity that can easily be applied in every classroom in every country and language. The posibilities of practical activities that can be done have no limits and brings life-learnt lessons.
The Little Prince wisdom of the child's unlimitted world of imagination has been theory of ours shared by many. In fact in 2010 a study conducted at the North Dakota State University discovered that the secret of finding your creative-self is indeed to imagine yourself as a child.
Students were invited to participate in the research - they were split into two - the first group was given to write a short essay: "Imagine school is cancelled for today. What would you do, think and feel?" The second group were asked to write a similar essay, but with one little difference to the question: "Imagine you are seven years old and school is cancelled for today. What would you do, think and feel?" After approximately five minutes of writing, each participant was asked to complete a version of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking.
What an estonishing difference in the answers this test revieled - the students who had imagined they were seven years old showed significantly higher levels of originality in their thoughts.
The experiment truly confirmes that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry creates an extraordinary work - a little book of 80 pages with so much wisdom: as we age, we start to see the world changes. It is the rare person who is able to hold on to the sense of wonderment, of presence, of sheer enjoyment of life and its possibilities that is so apparent in our younger selves. As we age, we gain experience. We become better able to exercise self-control. We become more in command of our faculties, our thoughts, our desires. But somehow, we lose sight of the effortless ability to take in the world in full. The very experience that helps us become successful threatens to limit our imagination and our sense of the possible. When did experience ever limit the fantasy of a child?
LOOK BEYOND THE SURFACE
Looking at the children's picture, do we see a hat or it is indeed a boa contrictor digesting an elephant.... as "it is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye".
LOVED ONES CANNOT BE REPLACED
To care and feel, it is the right thing to do. But can this love be universal no matter who the subject is? Can a garden of roses replace that one rose the Little Prince always loved? We are the one to make our own world, enhabiting it with the things and persons we want it to be, giving our hearts to the one we can always love ...... as "it is the time you have spent for your rose that makes your rose so important".
KEEP THE FAITH - DON'T GIVE IN OR GIVE UP
"It is madness to hate all roses because you got scratched with one thorn. To give up on your dreams because one didn’t come true. To lose faith in prayers because one was not answered, to give up on our efforts because one of them failed. To condemn all your friends because one betrayed you, not to believe in love because someone was unfaithful or didn’t love you back. To throw away all your chances to be happy because you didn’t succeed on the first attempt. I hope that as you go on your way, you don’t give in nor give up!".
Dare2Wow Little Prince Project
Textile in the context of the Little Prince has many different applications. The team of Dare2Wow explored many of them and the results were amazing - from thetrical reading, through cross-stitching, sewing, rag-doll making to fabric printing and painting. The possibilities are truly endless and it takes one imagination to make something beautiful that will be stay in one's heart for ever!
Get inspired, apply in your classroom and share with us later the amazing results! Dare to wow the world arounf you!
@))---)--
