Last week, we asked kids to draw a pictuture of themselves with their friends. Specifically, we asked”
Most people have friends. Do you have friends? We bet you do. And we bet you do fun things with your friends all the time. Things like playing ball, eating sandwiches, and exploring mysterious closets. Are we right? Now imagine that you were stuck on an island with a few of your friends. Who would you pick and what would you do there together? Would you build a castle, start a rock band, or light a campfire and make s’mores? Remember, it’s just you and your friends (no parents allowed), so you can do whatever you want. Tell us who your friends are, why you invited them to your island, and what you’re going to do together.
As usual, we got wonderful responses.
Here’s one from Joe:
Joe also sent us a story to explain his picture:
One day, my friends and I took 3 boats and went sailing. The wind was very strong… So strong that we got lost.
Me (J. L.) and Nick Mountz (N. M.) got onto an island first (we were on the same boat.) And we’re waiting for the other
2 boats (Ryan and Andy) (Maddie and Kyle) to get to us. (You can’t really see them, but you can kind of see the tip of
their boats at the far right side.)
Nick and I gathered some branches and started a fire. We decided to go fishing with some sticks (found on the ground)
and twine (found in our pockets.) We’ll cook up some food once we get fish (maybe a big one) and then everyone can enjoy
when they get here!
PS:
Nick is the one on the right. He has golden hair. I am the one on the left. My hair is dark brown. 🙂
I love Joe’s story. It reminds us how important it is to have friends, so that instead of getting scared when we get lost, we can make a campfire and eat fish together instead. I wish I could bring some marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers to Joe and his friends so that they could have s’mores for dessert.
And here’s a drawing and story from Tyler:
The Desert Scary Island
I’m on a desert island with my best friend Ethan. We’re on a weird island – we wonder where in the world we are! The desert island has lots and lots of sand and four different colored suns. The red sun is a hot sun. The green one is not as hot as the red one. The purple one is the hottest, hottest, hottest one. The last sun is cold. The trees look different. We wonder why they look funny and are all red. Ethan and I are playing around, having so much fun that we even forget about our moms and dads. Ethan is behind the purple sun playing so he’s really really hot! When it becomes night time, we start getting scared. We get lots of splinters because we don’t have socks or shoes, and the trees are starting to catch on fire, which gets us even more scared. Then we go to sleep and the next morning we wake up and start playing again. The end.
Tyler tells us that his island is a “weird” one, and how right he is! I have enough trouble keeping track of the one sun we have on this planet. I can’t imagine having to deal with four. But Tyler and his friends seem to be able to handle themselves just fine, even in the face of certain apocalypse (rampant splinters, burning trees!). The power of friendship gets them through, and fun continues the next morning. Though I’m guessing that all of them are going to get a bad case of sunburn.
And a story and picture from Spencer:
Spencer’s Blue Rocket
I’m in a rocket with my best friends Maya, Branden, and Casper. They’re my best friends because every day I play with them at school so I know them really well. Casper is driving the rocket. Maya is getting shot out of a canon, and me and Branden are hitting punching bags. Our moms and dads told us we could go in the rocket so we’re going up, up to Pluto!
First of all, I love the color black, and I love seeing drawings that have lots of black because they are very dramatic. I know from personal experience how long it takes to color in every inch of the background of a drawing with black, so my hat is off to Spencer for having the patience and perseverance to fill in the whole sky. And what a great drawing he made! He really captured cold black expanse of space. I also love his rocket. NASA could take some pointers from Spencer in how to keep astronauts happy. Why not have an indoor human rocket shooting range. Why not have a couple of punching bags to let off some of the steam that is sure to accumulate on those long space voyages? I just hope that someone gives poor Caspar some time to punch or fly through the air every now and then. Or maybe he’s the kind of guy who feels better behind the wheel?
Here is a drawing from Alden:
Alden says: This is free friends who are three bears. And two of them are wearing crowns.
Alden is sometimes a girl of many words and sometimes a girl of few. I would ask her why one of the bears is denied her crown, but alas, she is at the beach.
And here’s Robbi’s drawing, colored in.
Look at that delicious green water, that bird-blue sky. I’d like to be on that iceberg right now. I bet it’s a pleasing combination of sunny but cool.
If you think you’d like to have this painting for your own, the bidding is under way over on Ebay. As is the usual custom, the auction will close on Sunday at 12:30pm, but unfortunately, we will not be able to ship the illustration until we return from Alaska on July 21. So only bid if you love these penguins but don’t love them so much that you will fret having to wait three weeks to have them in your home. Or if you love them so much that you are willing to wait.