Briar Van Driel, a 29-year-old early childhood education assistant from Canada, didn’t set out to make a viral TikTok. She simply wanted to share the wonders of her preschool students' horse art project. Her post has more than 2.7 million views and more than 2,000 comments.
Briar works in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Her students created the art project as part of their farming unit. She only gave her students verbal directions and showed them a picture of a real horse. It was up to them to interpret it and follow their inner muse.
"We spent the month learning about what happens on a farm, what farmers do, what animals they take care of and the food they grow to help stock our grocery stores and feed us and our families," Briar explained to Today. She was so excited to do this project with the kids. It was going to add to the learning experience.
She believes in letting her students have artistic freedom. "As an educator, it's so important that we give them the creative freedom and independence to do their art as they see fit [and] end up with a product that they are proud of that came from their own mind," she explained. "They had full creative freedom to use the provided pieces in whatever way they desired on their papers." She did not stand in her students' way.
More from LittleThings: 12 Arts & Crafts Projects To Keep Around The House For A Rainy Day
The results are just too cute for words. As Briar put it, each one gets “progressively more abstract.” She works hard to put the process before the project. It’s a learning experience that should be fun.
"We provide general ideas and resources to them, but we never correct them or tell them where to place things," she explained. "This fosters so much confidence in the children, and gives them such an amazing sense of pride in their work. They learn to not doubt themselves, but rather take so much joy in what they can create."
"I love that they were allowed to do THEIR interpretation," commented one TikTok user.
To see Briar’s students’ work for yourself, watch this video.
