Bringing imagination to life

Moscow Middle School students used their art skills to bring the imaginations of local kindergartners to life this past semester

This art project started when kindergartners from West Park Elementary, St. Mary’s, Moscow Charter School and Palouse Prairie were tasked with drawing their own imaginary friends. These friends could take whatever shape or form the children wanted.

“I made a fluffy fat cat,” said West Park kindergarten student Miriam Seaburg.

Her classmate IraMay Swearingen made a mermaid using pencils and crayons. Fellow West Park student Shrey Deo made a butterfly with “so many colors on the wings,” Deo said.

Shanti Scutt-Norman’s art students at Moscow Middle School secretly sewed stuffed 3D versions of those drawings by using fabric, stuffing and embroidery thread. When finished, the seventh and eighth graders surprised the kindergartners by gifting them these creations.

When Deo received her 3D butterfly from her middle school partner, she was pleased with the result.

“I think it was perfect,” she said.

Seventh graders Leta Sumner, Lainey Rudd and Dash Spellman enjoyed participating in the project so much that they are excited to do it again next semester. Norman said her students will create more imaginary friends based on the drawings of Lena Whitmore and McDonald Elementary students next.

Sumner and Rudd both made rabbits for their kindergartners. When they met the kindergartners to surprise them with their stuffed friends, the elementary students were shy at first but eventually warmed up to their middle school buddies.

“He was trying to find the difference between the drawing and the stuffed animal and he told me he couldn’t and that I did a great job,” Sumner said about her kindergarten student.

Spellman said his kindergarten friend designed his own version of celebrity John Cena and was similarly impressed with the result.

“He was surprised by how it looked like the drawing,” Spellman said.

Spellman, Sumner and Rudd all said they received grateful hugs from their kindergarten partners.

Norman said this is the third year her class has taken on this project, which was inspired by a post she saw on social media.

Norman said it not only allows her students to flex their art skills, but it helps them feel like an important part of the community when they interact with the younger students.

“They’re capable of so much,” Norman said about her students.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.