(cheerful piano music begins)
♪ You are the best you the world will see ♪
♪ Come along now and share you with me ♪
♪ Let's learn something new and share feelings too ♪
♪ Cause these are the things to do to be the best you ♪
(cheerful piano music continues)
(magical chime)
(Lena laughing)
- Hi, Auntie Lena.
- Well, hello, Possum, and hello friends to you too.
How are you today?
- Oh, better now that you're here.
- Well, why do you say that, Possum?
- I've been so bored.
I don't have anyone to play with
until Mama Possum is done with work.
- Well, it sounds like we showed up just in time.
- Yes!
Um, what fun things are we gonna do with our friends today?
- Well, I don't know yet, but I'm sure
we can come up with an idea together.
- Oh, okay. Maybe we can, um, uh...
Um, no.
Urgh, I'm stumped.
- Oh, that's okay.
We need to spark our imaginations.
- But how, Auntie Lena?
- Hmm, well, let's start by naming a color.
- Uh, a color?
- Yes. Name any color.
One, two, three, go.
- Oh, oh, how about green?
- Okay, green.
Now name three things that are the color green.
- Um, oh, trees are green,
and, uh, grasshoppers and, oh, peas.
- Trees, grasshoppers, and peas.
Okay, now let's come up with a sentence
that uses all three words.
- But Auntie Lena, what do trees, grasshoppers,
and peas have to do with each other?
- Ah, this is how we use our imaginations
to come up with something fun to say.
And anything is possible.
I know a story that can give us an example.
- What is it?
- It's called "A Squiggly Story" by Andrew Larsen.
Let's go to the Museum of Flight
and listen with our friends.
(magical chime)
- Hi, friends.
We are here at the Museum of Flight,
and my name is Miss Jessica, and this is...
- Lynelle.
- Lynelle, and today we're going to read "A Squiggly Story."
"My sister loves to read.
Big words and little words,
page after page, word after word.
My sister loves to write.
Big words and little words,
page after page, word after word."
- "Sometimes I pretend I can write too."
- "Big letters and little letters,
swirl after swirl, squiggle after squiggle.
'What are you doing?', I ask one day
while we're sitting at the kitchen table.
'I'm writing a story.'
'I wish I could write a story.'
'You can. It's easy.'
'How?
I know my letters, but I don't know many words.'
'Write what you know.
Every story starts with a single word,
and every word starts with a single letter.
Why don't you start there with a letter."
So I get my crayons and pencils
and a pad of paper, and I start to write.
I start with a single letter.
It's an easy letter, I.
'That's a good beginning.
Now what?
What's going to happen?'
'How should I know?'
'It's your story.
You're the boss.'
I what?
I'm stuck.
What happens in my story?
I draw a circle.
It's a soccer ball.
Then I write another letter.
'It's you,' I say to my sister.
'I'm playing soccer with you.'
'Great. Where are we playing soccer?'
'Maybe we're playing on the beach,' I suggest.
We've never played soccer on the beach.
So I do a bunch of dots for the sand on the beach,
dot, dot, dot, dot.
Then I make a bunch of Vs. Big Vs and little Vs.
Wave after wave in the ocean.
'Now what?' 'What do you mean?'
'You have a beginning,
now we're in the middle of the story,
something else has to happen so we can get to the end.'
I'm stuck again. 'Hmm.' I start doodling.
I doodle another V, but this time I doodle it upside down.
'Oh no. It's a shark.
It's getting closer and closer.'
I flip the page to get away from the shark.
The next day I bring my story to school.
It's my turn for show and tell.
That means I get to sit in Mrs. Singh's chair.
Everyone else sits on the carpet, ready to listen.
Last night I started to write a story.
It's sort of squiggly, but here goes.'"
- "'Once upon a time, there was a brother and a sister
and they loved to play soccer.
One day they had an idea.
They decided to play soccer on the beach.
So they went to the beach, they played soccer.
Then they noticed something
coming toward them in the water.'"
- "'It was a shark, a real live shark.
It was getting closer and closer.'"
- "'And bigger and bigger.'"
- "'And that's as far as I got'.
'That's wonderful,' says Miss Singh.
'What happens next?
What about the shark?
What about the brother and the sister?'
'I don't know. I'm stuck.'
'Class, does anyone have an idea?'
Jake waves his hand in the air.
'I do! I do!
Maybe one of them kicks the ball
and it hits the shark in the head.
Then, maybe the shark bites the ball
with his big, pointy shark teeth.'
Alia offers another idea.
'What if the shark's name is Squiggles?
What if Squiggles is a vampire shark?
What if she invites the brother
and sister to ride on her back?
And what if they become a vampire family and live forever?'
'Vampires can't swim. Everyone knows that.'
'Of course they can swim. Vampires can do anything.'
'But it's my story.
And I don't want vampires in my story.'
Aw man.
'If I was writing a story, I'd have lots of vampires.'
'Then you should write one.' 'But I like yours.'
That night, after dinner, I sit down beside my sister.
Her face is buried in a book.
I've been thinking about my story all day
and I still don't know how to end it.
'Remember, you're the author.'
She says, without looking up,
'You can do whatever you want.'"
Does he look happy or concerned?
- Sad.
- He looks sad. Why do you think he's sad?
- Because he's been thinking about his story
and he didn't end it.
- He doesn't know how to end it.
So he did the beginning and middle with his sister
and then now he needs his sister's help again, huh?
"So I get my pencil and I start with a bunch of stars.
Then I add a few exclamation marks.
My sister told me, exclamation marks make things exciting.
She's right! It is exciting!
I add a couple of slanty lines.
'What's going on?' asks my sister looking up from her book.
'It's nighttime, the stars are out, the shark has gone away
and we decide to take a walk on the beach.
That's when we discover this giant rocket ship.'
'That sounds cool. Then what happens?'
'We hear a voice. It's counting down.'
'Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one.
Blast off.'
'Not yet,' I say, adding one more squiggle.
Just before the rocket blasts off,
we spy a martian looking out through the window.
The martian invites us to climb aboard.
'That's a great ending.'
Now I have an idea for my next story.
It's going to be about a boy who climbs
aboard a rocket ship and takes a trip to Mars.
And I think I know just how to begin.'
- Thanks for joining us everybody.
- [Both] Bye!
- Wow. The boy told such a cool story.
Oh, I liked that he turned the V upside down
and imagined it was a shark.
- Me too.
Now are you ready to make a sentence
with your green words, Possum?
- Oh, I think so.
- Okay. Now what are your three words again?
- Trees, grasshoppers and peas.
- Right then, now make up a sentence using all three words.
- Hmm. Oh, I got it!
Grasshoppers are small like peas
and like to play in tall trees.
- Oh! (laughs) That's great, Possum.
And I love that your sentence rhymes.
- Oh, thank you.
Oh, do you wanna take a turn using my words on Auntie Lena?
- Okay, let's see.
Hmm. Grasshoppers don't like peas
because they make them sneeze.
Instead, they snack
on leaves that grow on bright, green trees.
- (laughs) Oh, that's silly.
I've never heard a grasshopper sneeze.
- Me neither.
But like I said, anything is possible
if we use our imaginations.
- That was fun. Can we do it again?
- Sure. But this time, let's do it with music.
- Oh, what do you mean?
- I mean that we can use our imaginations
when we make music too.
Instead of using words,
we start with a sound or a musical note.
- Oh, I get it. (gasps)
And can we try it with our friends this time, Auntie Lena?
- Yes, and I know the perfect person who can help us.
Let's look, listen, and learn with Mr. Chris
at Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands.
(magical chime)
- [Both] Hi, everybody!
- Hi, I'm Mr. Chris and I'm here today with...
- Andersyn.
- And we are both here today
at the Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands.
And so today we're here talking
about something called improvisation.
Have you ever heard that word before?
Improvisation? - No.
Oh, improvisation.
Can you try to say that?
Improvisation.
- Improvisation.
- Yeah, yeah. It's kind of a mouthful, right?
Improvisation.
So what improvisation is,
it's being able to make up anything, okay.
So we're talking about imagination today
and using our imagination to create things.
That improvisation is being able to
make up something just in the moment.
So today what we're gonna be doing is,
we're gonna be doing a little bit
of improvisation with instruments.
But, before we get to that, let's talk about,
you know, some of the things we may improvise every day.
So I, for one, I have cats.
I love cats. I'm a big cat fan.
And what I like to do is I like to improvise songs
every day to my cats when I see them, when I wake up.
And so, I sing about silly things, you know,
it doesn't have to be serious.
It can be whatever I'm feeling, right?
And so, I sing about their tails or their nose.
It'll be like,
♪ Your tail's so long ♪
♪ Your paws are so big ♪
♪ Your nose is so cold ♪
♪ and you have a pretty face ♪
Just silly things like that, right?
And it's fun to make up songs.
Do you ever make up songs or dances or anything?
- Yeah, I do it to my sister, Harper and my sister, Georgia.
I do funny dances and songs around them.
- How does it make you feel
when you do funny dances and songs?
- It makes me feel happy that they're enjoying
and appreciating what I'm doing.
- Oh, that's cool.
I hope my cats appreciate my songs.
Sometimes I don't think they do though, but it's okay.
I'm still gonna sing 'em.
So, what we're gonna do right now is
we're gonna try to make some sounds,
make some music, improvise some music
with our instruments, okay?
This one is called a jarana.
So, can you say that word, jarana?
- Jarana.
- Jarana. Oh, nice job, nice job.
And this instrument here, this is called a requinto.
Can you say that?
- Requinto.
- Very good, very good.
And these instruments are both from Veracruz, Mexico.
It comes from a tradition called son jarocho.
The interesting thing about son jarocho
is it's all about improvising.
All about improvising little songs,
melodies, poems, you know.
And the other thing about son jarocho
is that it's typically played in a farming context.
You know, it's played by farmers.
So what we're gonna do right now is we're just
gonna try to improvise some music.
So before we get there, how are you doing today?
How are you feeling?
- I'm feeling really excited.
- You're feeling really excited?
So if I were to say, like,
"Okay, how would you play excited on your instrument?"
Let's just improvise it.
How would you, how would you do it?
(exciting music)
Oh, that sounds pretty exciting.
Yeah, cool. So I'm feeling happy.
Let's have you play excited and I'm gonna play happy
and let's see what we come up with.
Okay. All right, go ahead.
(exciting upbeat music)
Very cool.
Do you still feel excited?
- Yeah.
- I still feel pretty happy.
I feel even more happy 'cause I love playing music.
You wanna try that again?
- Sure. - Let's try it again.
Yeah, go ahead. I'm gonna follow you.
(exciting upbeat music)
Very nice.
So we talked about improvisation today, you know,
and so what I would like for you to do is
when you go back home, you know, and you're hanging out
and you start making up songs, you know.
Just think about that.
Think about how does it making me feel right now
to improvise this song, this dance, you know?
And think about that 'cause it's really fun, all right?
Thanks for joining us today, everybody.
- [Both] Bye.
(exciting upbeat music)
(playful music)
- What does a bird say on Halloween?
Trick or tweet.
- Where does a spy go to sleep?
Undercover.
- What's brown and sticky?
A stick.
(Andersyn laughing)
(Lynelle laughing)
- That was fun!
(gasps) Now is it time to do
arts and crafts with our friends?
- Yes. We always use our imaginations when we make art.
Do you have an idea for us today?
- I do.
Let's paint pictures of the sentences we made up.
- That is a great idea, Possum.
- But, I'm gonna paint the tree yellow instead of green.
- You can use any colors that you'd like.
It's your painting.
I'm going to make the grasshopper purple in my painting.
- Your favorite color.
- That's right. And you know what else?
- What, Auntie Lena?
- Maybe Miss Erin can teach us
a new way to create a painting.
Let's see what she's up to today
at the Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery.
(magical chime)
- Hello friends, my name is Miss Erin,
and today we're at the Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery
in White Center on the traditional lands
of the Duwamish people.
Today we are going to work our imaginations a bit
and make tape resist paintings.
And this is how you do it.
First, let me show you what supplies we need.
Masking tape or maybe you've seen some of that
blue or green painters tape.
Scissors, it's kind of handy for a clean edge of the tape.
I'll explain that later.
Some kind of paint that's easy to clean up.
Brush, of course.
Water.
And I always like to have some paper towels handy
when I'm doing painting.
And if you do not have paint
this project works really great
with colored pencils, crayons, anything actually.
Anything kind of soft that you can move colors around with.
So let's get started.
So with your tape what you wanna do...
Oh, I forgot to mention, we need a piece of paper.
And what you start to do is build out shapes
on your paper with the masking tape.
So I just taped a little corner off and have a triangle
and then I'm gonna go for a bit of a bigger space here.
And we keep on creating these little taped off areas
on our paper until they are all finished.
And I'm kinda, while I'm doing this,
thinking about what am I making here?
It's sort of occurring to me
that it's a bit like a stained glass window
and it also is, a little bit,
feeling like a a jigsaw puzzle to me.
So I am just continuing to create and look at these shapes
that I am building out for myself on this page.
And I like to remember, there are absolutely
no mistakes when you're using your imagination.
I especially like to do this kind of project
when I just have a little downtime,
a little quiet time at home.
It's really fun and relaxing.
So here is my taped off canvas.
Now, we are going to do fun part number two,
which is to add our colors.
And I put my paints down on this palette already
and I'm going to just start filling in these spaces
with my brush.
I picked a kind of a thicker brush
because I knew that I had big areas to cover.
But any kind of brush you have will do.
And then every time you switch colors,
of course you wanna give the brush a pretty good rinse
because you know how colors get into each other.
And another trick I do is after I rinse out my brush
I give it a good dab on a paper towel or a cloth towel
just so there's not too much water on your brush.
(cheerful music)
That's my finished painting
and I'm gonna let it dry for about 10 or 15 minutes
before I do the third fun part: the great reveal.
And luckily I have another painting here
that I did earlier so we can do the tape removal.
So, I would like for you to be pretty gentle
with this tape 'cause remember,
you're dealing with delicate paper and paint.
I'm going to suggest that this, also,
might be a good thing to have
a little help from an adult with.
So you can see these white areas are being revealed
and I'm really getting a cool color field here.
Well, I'm just really interested to see
what kind of colors I put down
and how they look different with the white spaces
in between them and what kind of shapes I created.
I definitely see triangles for sure.
And I like that I did like some little and some big.
Well, I had a great time today
using our imaginations together
and I look forward to seeing you next time.
Bye friends.
- I've never made art like that before.
- Yeah, I'm gonna try that art project
as soon as I get home today.
- I will too.
- Well Possum, it doesn't sound like
you're bored anymore.
- Oh. No I'm not!
I had a lot of fun with you and our friends today.
- I did too.
But even when you don't have friends around
you can discover new and creative ideas on your own.
All it takes is a little imagination.
- That's right. Thank you Auntie Lena.
- You are welcome Possum.
And friends, thank you for taking time
to look, listen, and learn with us today.
Remember, you are the best you
that the world will ever see.
- Bye for now.
- Bye.
(playful music)
- [Possum] It's time for Movement Minute.
- Hi, I'm Miss Crystal from the Seattle Storm.
Welcome to Movement Minute.
Today, I'm gonna show you some basketball moves
that we do all the time on the basketball court.
The first one's gonna be a defensive slide.
Now I'm gonna show you guys a karaoke.
Now I'm gonna show you guys high knees to the side.
And now we're gonna end it with a little stretch.
Hope you guys enjoyed your Movement Minute.
(uplifting music)
- [Narrator] Please stay tuned after the credits
for Auntie Lena's parent tip.
(uplifting music continues)
- Like Possum, it's normal for children to feel bored.
I know I felt bored as a kid.
When I wasn't at school or playing with my friends,
it felt like time would go by
as slow as molasses in January.
But being bored isn't always a bad thing.
In today's episode, Auntie Lena shows Possum
that boredom can be an opportunity to use our imaginations.
When children are encouraged to use their imaginations
they discover how to express themselves
and solve problems in new ways.
They also learn valuable social skills
and develop empathy by taking on perspectives
that they never would have otherwise.
When your child says, "I'm bored,"
inspire them to use their imagination.
Try making a recipe together from scratch
or create a fun new rhythm using pots and pans.
Like Auntie Lena, ask questions that spark creative ideas.
What color do you see outside?
Can they draw a picture using that color?
There are many great ways to use our imaginations.
Like Auntie Lena and Possum,
you may find that grasshoppers like to play in trees
and don't like peas because they make them sneeze.