The Crumpled Paper
"It's okay to make mistakes. Just try again!"
A bin full of crumpled paper. The character looks determined.
About this page
The bin is overflowing with crumpled paper, but look at that face, pure determination. This page tells children the truth about writing, and about research in general, that good work almost never comes out right the first time. Every crumpled ball is evidence of trying, and trying again is the whole game. That resilient spirit is the same one that powers science fair success later on. By making the messy middle visible and even a little funny, the page turns mistakes from something to hide into something to color.
Talk about it while you color
- How many crumpled papers can you count in the bin?
- What do you think was written on the paper that got crumpled first?
- What is something you kept practicing until you got it right?