Drawing Beyond Societal Templates

A few weeks ago my daughter and I were at a family centre that offers all kinds of facilitated activities for children. We joined a group of children sitting around a table. The staff gave us two sheets of paper, each with a predrawn outline of an animal. In the middle of the table was a box with pens. Everyone knew what to do without getting instructed. Of course, the aim of such template is to colorize it, to draw with the according colors within a predefined frame. Most of the children around that table where a few years older than my daughter and acted according to the way the producer of the templates has probably intended it. So we started drawing as well. Me, in a similar manner like everyone around us. My daughter mostly focused on the space around the template, producing colorful and unstructured visual representations of her ideas. She did what she considered as beautiful and right. Without concern she drew beyond the social norms that kept my own drawing behavior in line. A norm that is deeply embodied in most of us and quite difficult to overcome without explicit action. Something children in that age do with ease. Of course, this is just a temporary phenomenon. As we grow we become a reproductive entity within templates of society that structure our space of imagination. I do not think children are specifically creative. Much of their imagination manifests through pretend play which is often quite similar to actual experienced situations. But I do think that children are very creative in their unboundedness from social norms, which manifests in often overlooked details. Leaving existing pathways is often a question of norms. What would it mean to redesign societal templates, not as static structures, but flexible conditions that can evolve beyond frames?

Jun 27, 2025