Creative Occupational Therapy

Abstract

IT is fun to make things. It is twice as much fun to design the things one makes. To conceive an idea, and plan its development, and then to carry it out in material completes the creative process. Therein lies a thrill comparable to no other experience. It is the embodiment of self-satisfaction, and brings about the release that comes with adequate self-expression. Difficulties seem to stand in the way of this kind of accomplishment. There is, perhaps, nothing to work with and little money to spend. Another stumbling block is that of lack of confidence in one's ability to plan and design. Both of these barriers may be easily overcome. It is possible to make very lovely things out of scraps of this and that, out of newspapers, and other waste material. The five-and-ten cent store offers a copious supply of fascinating mediums. As for planning and designing, such ability grows apace with experience. (And to make objects without art quality is wasteful, for a thing of beauty, though it need cost no more than a commonplace thing, has value. Moreover, to miss the opportunity for personal interpretation is to miss real satisfaction.) The main factor is to start. Start simply. One idea follows another. The first conception which is carried to successful completion will bring others in its wake. The process is accumulative, and the more one does, the more one can do. Let us begin very simply. Not only is there a close relationship between simplicity and beauty, but it is sensible and logical to proceed from the simple to the more complex. The following suggestions for creative occupational therapy are basic but adaptable for use among those of varying age, experience, and skill. Included are ideas that are unusual, that have art merit, and that are inexpensive to carry out. After a little experience the creative designer should find many other worth-while uses for these everyday materials.