Not exactly “making things” but my 2 year old is rocking the creative play. Pompoms as bubble bath. Fun stuff.
I’ve been wanting to make a mud pie kitchen in our backyard for some time now but I was waiting to find a table or old play kitchen at a garage sale. Turns out I just needed to rearrange the junk in our backyard!
Adelaide has been happily playing with a couple of little buckets of water and some containers of varying shapes and sizes for well over an hour. I don’t actually have any mud in the kitchen yet but am trying to figure out where I could dig a little and not do too much damage! I figure I will just put it in one of the old buckets or maybe the small square cooler with a lid and let the kids go to town. The other upside…the rest of our yard is looking relatively neat and tidy. For the time being at least.
My big man and I made a simple bag of nesting materials for the birdies in our neighborhood this morning. The weather feels like we skipped spring entirely and went straight to summer but the bare branches hint to the fact that the birds will be nesting.
We used a mesh onion bag to hold our nesting supplies but did cut a few of the openings to make them slightly larger. We included things such as bits of the scraps from the quilt I made for my brother and sister-in-law, pieces of wool felt used to make our Christmas stockings, a bit of wool roving and other bits of cotton and wool fabric. We hung the little bag from a bare branch in our back yard and are eagerly watching to see if and when the birds find the little treasures we assembled for them.
I’m feeling anxious for the spring and gardening so I have been repotting inside and am quite pleased with everything.
The begonia on the left has been cut several times and you can see the new plants in water. I often give these as housewarming gifts because this plant has always been a part of my life an it feels right to share it. My mom got it as a gift probably 30+ years ago and it has been cut and repotted so many times I’ve lost count. (We also have a piece of it in our bedroom!)
The aloe plant in the middle is in a new pot I just picked up at Anthopologie (here) on a really fun girls day out with my dear friend Leah. I love it.
The yellow pot, from our local hardware store, holds a lavender plant I got at Trader Joe’s. I think I will move it outside when it gets a bit warmer and put something else in the yellow pot. I do hope it flowers, I don’t know much about lavender, I’ll have to do a bit of reading to see what it likes best.
Anyway, makes me happy to look at these plants while I am washing dishes!
I was thinking it would be fun to try the paper bag challenge over at Tinkerlab. I suggested it to my big man, explained that he could make whatever he wanted with a paper bag, and without a moment of hesitation he said, “I’ll make a ship.” A couple of folds and one (yes, one) staple later he presented me with his boat. His description: “The boat has a flap on top for rain and the passengers and the driver go below the flap and the leader looks out.” I asked him if he wanted to make some passengers or paint it and he firmly said “no” and started in on his Legos. Done and done. (Except that he is still talking about the boat. So maybe not entirely done!)
I love picture books. LOVE. Always have. I just got a new one for the kids and they actually love it too, which isn’t always the case. The book is Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen. When I saw it I was immediately drawn to the illustrations, and after reading the back flap I realized that I have admired Jon Klassen’s work before (he worked on the concepts for Coraline, one of my favorite movies). The story is equally as enchanting. A kind little girl finds a box of yarn and starts knitting in (and for) her dreary town. I won’t spoil it but it is sweet. If you have the chance it is definitely worth a read. I haven’t posted pictures here — not sure about the whole copyright thing and sure don’t want to offend anyone — but there are some nice pictures on the illustrator’s website under the books drop down menu. I’m inspired to learn to knit (again)!
Classmates, don’t look! The kids are busy as bees making Valentine’s Day cards for all of their classmates. As they decide on which items to use on which cards they are discussing who it is for and what they like about each friend. It is so sweet! Isn’t that what Valentine’s Day is all about after all?
Jean at The Artful Parent is hosting guest posts this month and today I wrote a little something about an experiment we recently tried. Thanks Jean for putting it up there with all of the wonderful guest posts. What an honor to be a part of your blog, which I have loved for many years.
Now if I was a good blogger I would have had this post up this morning to welcome any visitors from her site. But, since I am decidedly a sporadic blogger at best, hopefully this late evening note will suffice.
And, with that, I will leave you with a picture (totally unrelated, from the summer!) of the kids painting with cornstarch (one of the many ways we use it around here).
So, my son just drew a sword. On the tablecloth. I want to encourage his (enormous) creativity, but where to draw the line? Suggestions?
(I know this particular work of creativity was likely inspired by Draw a Stickman. In case you were wondering.)
I wrote this whole post on my phone and when I tried to attach the pictures it crashed and my words were lost. Super frustrating. But, the project was so cool I’m trying again (and plan to save before adding images!).
We have really been enjoying Mariah Bruehl’s Playful Learning and last week when the moon was clear and bright we decided to do the moon journal project. The idea was to make little books (which we did out of a piece of construction paper and staples) and observe the cycles of the moon.
Well, my guys were having SO much fun drawing at night with flashlights and oil pastels that they completely filled their journals with pictures not only of the moon but the house across the street with one light on, the big old oak that appeared black in the darkness and the streetlight that glowed very brightly. It was so much fun that they asked to do it two nights in a row, despite chilly temperatures.
Below are images of the kids working as well as some shots of the finished pages.
