Let The Children Craft

     With the holiday season in full swing, B and I have been busy crafting all sorts of fun Christmas and winter themed decorations, books and more.  We craft at home, library story times, and retail shops. I've discovered there is a nearly endless supply of holiday craft ideas out there. However, these ideas all require B and I to follow a structured set of directions. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the fact that I can go online and find a detailed post on most any subject. But, after yet another morning filled with structured crafts (this time at the local library) I decided B needed at little more freedom to let his creative juices flow.

     I wanted to stick with the Christmas theme but see where B's imagination took him. Out came the holiday art supplies. I filled a tray with red and green markers, crayons, glitter glue, paint dot markers, foam stickers and pom poms. I added a regular glue stick, scissors, Christmas stickers, greeting cards and cotton balls. I gave B colored paper, white paper plates, cardboard tubes, small paper bags and even a cardboard jar.

  
     B sat down at the table and got busy examining the supplies in front of him. Before long he had decided on a red sheet of paper and was covering it with whatever caught his eye.

  
     My little artist happily glued, stamped and colored for over forty-five minutes before I finally had to pull him away from the table (it was already past lunch time after all). He had a wonderful time creating and was so proud to show off his finished work for the camera!

  
     Although I love working with B on structured projects I am so happy he was excited to create on his own today. Sometimes between the worksheets, computer learning series, books and so on I forget to just let him learn by himself. B enjoyed his afternoon art session and I was actually able to clean the entire kitchen at one time while happily watching him work. All in all, I think this free-for-all activity will become a staple of our weekly routine.

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Happy Crafting!!!

Fun With Pumpkins

     Halloween is an exciting time of year, especially for the little ones. B had an amazingly fun two weeks leading up to the big trick-or-treating day. We had trips with daddy to the zoo and aquarium, trick-or-treating at local businesses, costume contests, themed library activities and more. I wanted Halloween day to really live up to all of the excitement B was feeling. Thus, mommy came up with a pumpkin filled, educational (Shhh! Don't tell B) day.
      We began our fun with a surprise breakfast of Vanilla Pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern Pancakes. B was absolutely thrilled when I set the plate in front of him.

  

    

     After we filled our bellies, and got lots of energy, it was time to finally carve the pumpkin. This was B's first experience making a jack-o-lantern. We took the fun, and mess, outdoors onto the deck. I wanted it to be B's pumpkin so he drew the face on with a marker.

     Once our little artist was satisfied with his drawing, daddy cut the stem away so B could remove the "guts." To our surprise B didn't really care for this part at first. In fact, mommy and daddy had to repeatedly tell him how cool and fun it was to touch the squishy insides of the pumpkin. He eventually came to enjoy the process. Yay!

     We finished up the jack-o-lantern with mommy cutting out the face B had drawn. Its crocked little smile and asymmetrical eyes were so cute!
     After cleaning up the surprisingly small mess we had made, it was time for more pumpkin fun. Next up was Pumpkin Painting! B used the cut out portions of the pumpkin as paint stamps. The artwork came out cuter than I had imagined. Along with the pumpkin stamps, B used a small paint brush and of course his fingers.

     After a yummy lunch and quick nap, B was up and ready to trick-or-treat. Unfortunately, he still had a couple more hours to wait. To fill the time we decided to do one more pumpkin craft. I folded an orange piece of paper in half and cut out a pumpkin shape leaving the two sides connected at the stem. On the front of the paper I wrote "What is inside a pumpkin?" Daddy joined B again for this craft and helped him glue in some of the rinsed seeds from our jack-o-lantern and yarn (the stringy guts) to represent what one finds when cutting open a pumpkin.

           Daddy and B had a fun time working together and B was very proud of his finished project!

 

    
     Our pumpkin filled day was rounded out by lighting the candle inside the jack-o-lantern and enjoying an extremely fun, yet cold, night of costumed trick-or-treating. And after B was finally tucked in tight and headed off to dream land, mommy and daddy roasted the remaining pumpkin seeds which we have all been enjoying ever sense.

 

      It sure was a jam packed Halloween, but well worth the time and effort. B was able to explore his artistic side, discover what a pumpkin was made of, try new food and get plenty of exercise walking the neighborhood getting treats and interacting with other kids. Now, what to do for next year???

**Special thanks to Mom To 2 Posh Lil Divas for the inspiration for the "What's inside of a pumpkin?" craft!**