I love this piece by guest blogger Eleanor Traubman, editor-in-chief of Creative Times
check out her blog, it’s really fun over there.

Just before Valentine’s Day, my mom would cover the kitchen table with
a bunch of supplies – sequins, beads, glitter, glue, doilies, markers, crayons,
and colored construction paper. She never gave instructions; instead, she’d let
me and my brother dive into the pile of goods. To this day, I remember the
pleasure of the process, the satisfaction of handling all the different
textures. I even remember the great feeling of putting little patches of Elmer’s
glue on my hands so that I could peel it off after it had dried.

Looking
back at my days as a young person, I realize that the most meaningful and
gratifying experiences were those of the “hands-on” sort, the ones where I got
to be physically connected to a task. Now, as an adult who lives in an age where
speed, efficiency, and convenience rule, I find it challenging but important to
stay involved in the world through activities that require use of my physical
self, namely the use of my hands.

When I use my hands in a project, I
slow down. I connect in a deeper way to the experience, to my other senses, and,
if I am working collaboratively, to the people or person I am with. When I
prepare a meal with my boyfriend, Mike, I often feel the same way I did when I
was making Valentine cards at my childhood kitchen table – totally immersed in
the project, relishing the experience of using my hands to implement choices,
taking pride in the results of those choices.

STUFF YOU CAN DO WITH YOUR HANDS

Give a
massage
Knit a scarf
Bake bread
Chop vegetables
String beads

Sew a costume
Make a pot
Finger-paint
Plant seeds
Weed a
garden
Play the tambourine
Cut paper dolls
Hand-write a thank you
note
Illustrate a card
Crochet a baby blanket
Fish
Paint
someone’s face
Plaster a wall
Hammer nails
Saw or whittle wood

Hand-wash clothes
Scrub a floor
Arrange flowers
Place photos in
an album
Build a fire
Flip pancakes
Braid someone’s hair
Pet a
dog
Sandpaper a rough surface
Fry matzoh
Dye eggs
Build a fort
or a sand castle
Knead bread dough

PHOTO CREDIT: flickr.com/photos/pensiero/