We were recently talking to a friend whose daughter had decided that she wants to go to college to study puppetry. Another adult in the room quickly chimed in, “Why would she want to do that? How many jobs could there possibly be in that profession?”

This, as we know, is exactly the sort of thing young people always hear when they are deciding on a career choice: it’s better to pick something practical, blah, blah, blah. Surely, yes, the world always needs more doctors and teachers. But it also needs people who are creative, and who are doing uniquely creative things…otherwise, our lives would be, let’s face it, kinda boring. 

Of course, we all know that it’s very hard to make it in acting. Yet think of all the joy and priceless memories that going to a great Broadway play can bring us; and obviously somebody has to be up there on that stage, even while someone else who made a more “pragmatic” career choice is taking care of the show’s accounting and finances between performances.

A story by Carolina A. Miranda which appeared on CNN.com back in 2012 - originally published by Parenting.com - still says it best: “We all have creative potential. Our job as parents and teachers is to help kids fulfill it.” (It’s actually a quote from Mark Runco, Ph.D., director of the University of Georgia’s Torrance Center for Creativity & Talent Development.)

Kids are naturally drawn to art, because their young minds are very much in “exploration” mode - and certainly, creativity is at its best when it is not all that concerned about rules and boundaries. Many of the most iconic artists in history were, in their time, challenging the “accepted” ideas of art. The likes of Rafael and Michelangelo, for instance, brought together the humanistic, the scientific and the divine in shaping the Renaissance during the 15th Century - and they ruffled a few feathers while doing it. Following that, perhaps the greatest sculptor of all time, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, turned art back towards the more vigorously religious with his spectacular, still awe-inspiring, allegorical baroque statues.

Plain and simple, they were all not afraid of enacting change.

But let’s face it, if you’ve ever simply known a kid who’s made a fort from a cardboard appliance box, you know how vivid their imaginations can be. So when introducing your children to art, it’s highly recommended not to impose too much direction on them - but rather, just supply them with the materials, and let those imaginations run wild. What will result is arguably some of the most honestly and earnestly created work you’ll ever have the privilege of seeing.

A 2022 US News & World Report article stresses the benefits of K-12 arts education, specifically listing several potential long-term benefits to children: (1) Developing social-emotional and interpersonal skills, (2) Handling constructive criticism, (3) Bolstering academic achievement, (4) Improving focus, and (5) Enriching their experiences. Perhaps most importantly in this age of digital overload and mental health challenges, learning about art and being creative can very much help kids develop confidence and boost their self-esteem. 

But acclaimed British artist David Hockney put it so perfectly when he observed that, “The urge to draw must be quite deep within us, because children love to do it.” We can reasonably conclude, then, that when kids are being creative, they will be discovering things - sometimes really deep and profound things - about themselves along the way. And with tigernoodles, we simply hope to share the artistic expressions of those discoveries with the world. 

Oh, and just in case you were actually wondering, the World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts estimates that somewhere between 5000 and 10,000 people currently work in that field across North America. Go for it!