Mrs. Coomber's Kinderland

I love the way these ornaments turn out each year. The same instructions, the same paint, the same design, but each child’s creation has a unique flair. I can (almost) tell just by looking at them which one belongs to each child. They are a beautiful mixture of each kindergartener’s style, skill, and love.

I also love that some of them represent a “Beautiful Oops” moment. See my previous post about the book Beautiful Oops! written by Barney Saltzberg. It is the perfect book to help encourage a growth mindset. The beautiful pages demonstrate how mistakes can be opportunities to create something new.

A few of my kindergarteners realized that there is no eraser when working with paint. The child who created the ornament above started with a fingerprint in the “wrong spot.” She then tried to smudge it out but realized that the spot just got bigger. In the end, she decided she could make her snowman next to her blob. When she decorated with paint markers, she turned her “oops” moment into two snowmen hanging out. As Barney Salzberg illustrates, “A smudge and a smear can make magic appear.”

The child who made the ornament above told me he made his fingerprints too high. When he realized we couldn’t move them, he decided to make a snowman with four balls. He was excited about the giant ball at the bottom and added an arm on the side as his beautiful oops.

In the end, they were so excited to wrap and give their ornaments to their families. I am positive these gifts will be opened before Christmas!