Loved our Block Print Bag project for this weeks Girls Club Class to connect with the topic theme-Love.
The girls had a great time decorating the bags their way and Cindy Williams who teaches the class and I had a blast seeing how their new printing skills and personalities tied their bag looks together. In addition to block printing the girls could use markers and gems to bedazzle their bags. What showed up around the table was a refection of what they have been learning through the girls club series over all. This bag by Cate was a fitting example of what I mean- keep in mind that the girls were told that they had only one bag each to work with so if they made a mistake, something they didn’t like, it was up to them to make it work which is a tall order but a good habit to practice.
After class I got to really look at the bags left behind to dry. When I read Cate’s bag I thought, she gets it! The lessons and conversations during Girls Club stay with her and they showed up on her bag. The first tell tale sign was that she turned a mistake into a colorful doodle over the heart and a blob of paint into a bedazzled smiley face giving them both purpose and value. Wow, she applied the important message to work through her mistakes. She turned them around and made the whole look of the bag fun because of it! That is one of the big lessons I see unfold in Girls Club classes that Cindy teaches. Then she wrote words that powerfully affirm her, “I AM ME“! This is another valuable learning in Girls Club that I see, own who you are, be you! She also validated others, “BE YOU” and “LOVE WHO YOU ARE” and YOUR YOU. Another important part of Girls Club teaching is being a friend to others. The girls in our 1pm class are 7 to 9 years old. They are getting these valuable life skills NOW and they can grow up with them. I just love that! I wish I had Girls Club for my girls when they were younger! I wish I had Girls Club when I was a girl! I had lots of friends but I took whatever came my way, I didn’t know I could choose people, paths or a view of myself. I am developing those things now, as an adult. The bag’s wowness may not look like much to the naked eye but to me, a grown up Girls Club girl with a young me tucked away says, Yes! That’s the stuff we need to feel the power we have within us to be all that we can be. Thank you Cindy! The world needs you!