Looking back, a kaleidoscope of memories plays in my mind, propelling me towards the desk to grab a piece of paper. What do I do with it? Well, try to make an origami duck to see if I still can! So while I struggle with it, other images flash by; coloring books full of favorite cartoons, Sunday newspaper games like the Maze and Connect the Dots; pasting photographs in scrapbooks lined with glitter and cutting pictures out of newspapers to create collages. My friends and I would even try and glue matchsticks together to create human figures for our little make believe township. The creative possibilities explored with a little glue, some colored paper and a few sketch pens were endless and kept us kids busy and out of our parents’ hair for the length of an afternoon at least!

Technology was just bursting over the horizon and played an important part, mostly with the introduction of remote control video games along with MS DOS computer games like Dave and Prince. For a while, every computer center in our area would have a queue of preteens waiting impatiently for their turn to “level up”! There were also those of us who spent hours drawing with MS Paint, trying out the mind boggling range of shapes and colors and effects! Creating something (making) played a defining role in our childhoods then, be it making endless wax crayon drawings, lovingly taped to the refrigerator door or carefully boxed arts and crafts projects throughout primary school. Almost all these activities led us to believe in the importance of DIY. It was a simpler time when it came to entertainment. The one TV set permanently set to the news channel; we had to rely on our own imagination and made up playthings. Nothing was too shabby for us as cardboard boxes turned into time machines and old ropes were fashioned into swings.

Returning to the present is a jolt in more ways than one; coming out of my reverie and realizing how different the picture is for the millennial kids, who are learning to draw on their iPads before even knowing the alphabet, who are more proficient at complex graphical games than they are at speed reading. New mothers talk about how their children respond to the audio visual techniques of learning the arts at an early age. All they have to do is play the relevant video clip and the kids…they love it! It’s wonderful how technology is shaping recent childhoods but I figure it comes at some cost. It can be seen in the somewhat lack of attention span and dependence on cell phones to create distractions for hyperactive children.

It depends on us to find a balance and transform the barrage of high tech options into a boon. The principle is to exercise control and reintroduce our children to the joys of learning how to draw, sing, dance and play in natural settings. Virtual teaching methods are already dominating both school classrooms and homes leading to even further exploration of every child’s creative capabilities. The time couldn’t be better to bridge the old and new to show the millennial kids the best of both worlds! The possibilities created by the marriage of Design and Technology are endless, exciting and best of all, beneficial to all generations because we only truly grow old when we stop learning! And who says we have to grow old?

What happened with the origami duck you ask? Well, it’s sitting pretty on my dresser and I couldn’t be more proud!

-By Swati Solke