We all know that kid who wouldn’t start on a drawing because he/she is afraid of making a mistake. But what if we can get kids see mistakes as part of the process instead of something to be avoided at all costs?
We interviewed Corinna Luyken, author and illustrator of the picture book The Book of Mistakes in October. In the episode, Corinna talks about how she transforms mistakes into inspiration and how she thinks adults can help kids learn to celebrate mistakes.
At Storyland, we were greatly inspired by the message conveyed in Corinna’s picture book and decided to put an end-of-year interactive exhibition to celebrate the mistakes we made in 2020.
In our interview together with Corinna, she mentions that after messing up a drawing, we have two choices. We can either crumple it up and throw it away, or we can try to save the drawing by embracing the mistake.
Therefore, in our exhibition in the library hall at Storyland, students and teachers were invited to write down a mistake and choose to:
- Say goodbye to the mistake and throw the mistake card into the “black hole” box
- Showcase their card on “the wall of mistakes” (“错误之墙”as seen on the right hand side) and realise that mistakes are part of everyone’s life!
Students were also invited to transform the mistakes as seen in Corinna’s The Book of Mistakes into new drawings.
In another section of the exhibition, we showcased Corinna’s book and nine other picture books related to the theme of embracing mistakes. We hope that these books will shed a new light on how kids and parents perceive mistakes.
Needless to say, our students were thrilled to see the exhibition in the Storyland space. They were especially excited by the opportunity to transform mistakes into new art pieces.
Listen to our interview with Corinna Luyken by clicking on the image below.
Storyland 