Wish Upon a Holiday Star

Hello Inksters!

Happy Holidays! ‘Tis the season to make wish lists of all those things you want and all those experiences you want to have.

But, what if we take that tradition of gift getting and give it a different shape?

Enter today’s Inkstart: the Holiday Wish Star.

• Grab paper, pencils, pens, markers, stickers…
• Draw a large star on a piece of paper.
• At the center of the star, write, “I wish for…” or “I hope for…”
• In each point of the star, write your wish or hope for a specific person or place. Here, Logan wished gifts for herself, her grandmother, good friends, for her neighborhood, and for the world. Wyatt used one point for himself, one for his brother and sister, one for his friend, Gracie, one for the place he lives in, and one for the world.
• Decorate your stars if you wish.
• The idea is to fill each point in as you think about a particular person or place or program that is important to you. You get one point, and the other points invite you to wish, hope, and plan for giving to others.

It’s not too late to create a star for Christmas. Think about wishes and hopes that you can’t buy, but that you can give just by spending time with someone. Perhaps you wish for someone to be happy — maybe you’ll share your smile or a funny story with them. Maybe you love music and so your gift would be to sing songs with your family during your holiday time together.

Perhaps you’ll decide to look through your Inkster Notebook and find something you’ve written to give to someone special.

Use these stars for New Year’s, too. Have everyone you are with create stars full of wishes or hopes for the New Year.

Be sure to share your stars here with us by commenting on this post.

Happy Wishing and Writing!

Today’s Inkling: Mandala Word Art

Happy Monday, Inksters!

Welcome to this week’s Inkling — an idea worth writing about! This week we invite you, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, to create your own Gratitude Mandala.

What is a Mandala? 

“Mandala” is the Sanskrit word for “circle.” It is a form of art that comes from Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Mandalas are often made out of sand, but can also be drawn or made out of other materials. I taught at one school where the food donations during the Thanksgiving Food Drive were all displayed in the shape of a bountiful mandala in the school’s entryway. It was such a wonderful display of the community’s generosity. And my son’s class this year drew and colored in beautiful Mandalas with chalk on the sidewalks at school when celebrating Diwali.

For this Inkling, we’ll make our Gratitude Mandala out of words.

Grab a piece of paper and any pencils, pens, markers, or crayons you want to use. Start your Mandala by writing “I Am Grateful for” or “I am Thankful for” at the center of the paper. This is the hub of your Mandala. Then think about everyone and everything you are grateful for:

• Who do you enjoy having in your life?
• What experiences are you glad you are able to have?
• What activities do you enjoy doing?
• What are you glad or relieved that you don’t need to live without?
• Who or what do you treasure?

Write your words around the hub of your Mandala. Fill the page. Share it with your family during your time together this holiday.

If you are a pre-writer or early writer (which means your grown-up is reading this!), share what you are grateful for with your grown-ups. They will write your words down for you. Or, pre-writers can also draw or use stickers to show their gratitude and then talk about what they created with their family and friends.

If you love creating graphics on your computer, try creating a Gratitude Mandala in the form of a Wordle. See this Wordle Mandala here and visit the site for instructions:

If you want to fill in an already shaped Mandala, try this colorful one:

Or this one. You can color it and fill it in!:

Enjoy creating your Mandalas. Use them to remember all that you are grateful for. We look forward to seeing your creations!

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy Writing!