Playing with shapes and colors and textures was finding joy in creation. Creating my own art was a way of being at home in the Universe, and the Universe is, itself, a creative place. None of our children arrives in the world with ready skills for survival. Our genetic heritage is a purposefully vague ability to learn language, create with other humans a community, and from that community we learn to see and remember patterns in our environment, and craft tools to alter it. Play is the ideal meta-behavior.
Puppies have a way of playing, making rules of safety and then romping in pure joy.
Our own children also play. They are creative in their play, and in their play they practice the essential skill of survival that make us human. I was reading about Gordon MacKenzie recently. MacKenzie was an artist and creative manager at Hallmark Cards, and he believed very much in helping all people find the artist within themselves. He would often speak to various audiences including school children.