During summer, and casually throughout the year, I am lucky enough to have the amazing job working at a children’s art studio. With planned lessons and activities, but ultimately the freedom to create what they dream up with the given materials, I have very often witnessed the state of flow during these classes. What starts out as a excited, buzzing room of 6-10 year-olds, turns into a concentrated, almost silent space where imaginations and skills are on task to create.
After reading more about flow, I’ve been able to identify why this happens so regularly in this setting. First, and most obvious, is that this is an extracurricular kind of activity that the learners already have an interest in. This certainly helps them get into the flow more easily. Offering them more complex art materials to play and experiment with increases the difficulty of the project, but keeping the lesson and examples achievable helps find the sweet spot where learners are able to push themselves, and still achieve their creative goals. As shown in the diagram below, offering a challenge and catering to the right amount of skill can help find and maintain that state of flow within the activity.
Screencast
I’ve done screencast recordings through Zoom, but this was my first time creating one with Screencastify. It was simple to install and use, and I loved not having the little video of myself in the corner (like Zoom does), as I often find it distracting while I record.