✦An original fictional family story
The Jar of Almosts
Adi wants every drawing to be finished and right straight away. Grandma’s jar offers a place for ideas that need a little more time.
A story to read together
The Jar of Almosts
Take your time. Let the story unfold.
Adi drew a turtle, looked at its uneven shell, and pushed the paper away. Beside it lay half a folded bird and a flower with a bent stem. He had begun three things and finished none. “I am not good at making things,” he told Grandma. She brought a wide jar from the shelf. Inside were small rolled sketches, pieces of coloured paper, and one drawing of a very crooked chair.
The almost chair
Grandma unrolled the chair drawing. One leg was longer than the others. “I meant to make a picture of our kitchen,” she said, “but I stopped here.” Adi was surprised that she had kept it. Grandma explained that she called the jar her Almosts. Some ideas waited there until she wanted to return. Others stayed because they reminded her of something interesting. The jar was not a promise to finish everything. It simply gave unfinished work somewhere to rest without turning it into proof that its maker could not learn.
Choosing one thing
Adi wanted to put all three projects in the jar immediately. Grandma said he could, then asked whether there was one he still felt curious about. He chose the bent flower. The curve reminded him of a stem leaning towards a window. He added another leaf and drew a little pot below it. The picture changed from the one he had expected. It was still his choice to keep working, stop, or ask for help. Grandma sat nearby with a sketch of her own.
A turtle on another day
The next afternoon, Adi returned to the turtle. He studied a picture book and noticed that shells were not flat circles. He tried a smaller sketch beside the first one. It was not perfect either, but now he could name one thing he understood better. Grandma asked if he wanted to save both. Adi rolled the first drawing loosely and placed it in the jar. He kept the new one on the table. The half-folded bird could wait until he actually wanted to know how its wings should go.
What the jar could not do
The jar did not teach Adi to draw while he slept. It could not fold paper or decide which idea mattered to him. What it did was hold some of the pressure to be finished immediately. A week later, Adi opened it to find Grandma’s crooked chair. He liked its lively shape. On a fresh sheet, he drew a whole room of chairs with different legs. Grandma added a small table. They worked until they were ready to stop, then cleared a space for tomorrow’s possibilities.
The end
After the final page
There is no single right answer. Invite young readers to notice, wonder and imagine.
Why did Adi first push his work away?
What was the jar for, and what could it not do?
How did choosing one interesting detail help him continue?
Make something: Choose a folder or large envelope for unfinished paper ideas. Add a drawing and a note about one thing you might explore later; returning to it is optional.
