Adventures In Crafting: Pumpkin Week

Between being sick and choosing a theme that left me appearing like a deer caught in the headlights, Pumpkin Week wasn't an out of the park hit.  It started off promising with a wonderful trip to Underwood Family Farms, but fizzled out after pumpkin painting.  I still hung in there to get through the week by perseverance and relying on oldies, but goodies.

Monday

Daddy took off and joined us for a wonderful trip to Underwood Family Farms.  CJ loved it!  There are pumpkins, rides for kids, farm animals, and a corn maze.  I had planned for theme weeks to end in a trip, but this place costs $12 per person on the weekends and that includes the munckin.  But during the week, it only cost us $9 and we used last years leftover tickets for the rides.  This was well worth switching up the schedule.

Tuesday

 We picked a mini pumpkin for our little one so it wouldn't be to overwhelming to handle and paint.  This project made me second guess using paint as a craft with this little guy.

Wednesday

I attempted to copy Play At Home Moms with the pumpkin magnet and tried to take it in a cheap direction and this one did not work out too well.  The magnets didn't stick well and he ended up just pulling them off the paper and the fridge.  It did, however keep him occupied for a second.  This day was when I reintroduced an activity from last week.

Using the picture board I made and the Woodsie cut-outs.  He had to match the letter blocks with the corresponding pictures.  Although I had to point out most pictures and tell him the letter, he got a few on his own.  I couldn't believe he actually had the patience to finish the whole board!

Thursday

Stamp day or should I say Diaster day.  It started off with me trying to have him make pumpkin stamps on white paper with different color ink and, well, you can see the pictures.

I also made a box tunnel, an idea I've adapted from several blogs and articles.  It was actually a hit, but I struggled adding the features I wanted.  It was supposed to have pumpkin lights inside.  He loved it though.  We ended up playing "mommy chase me into the box".  The day was also filled up with a trip to the store.

Friday

This was I am totally over it day.  I just took him to a local playroom and watched him enjoy himself.  I joined in intermittently to encourage pretend play.

Things I Learned:
     1.  Take time to learn what is age appropriate.
     2.  When in doubt rely on the basics
     3.  Come up with rainy day ideas (this includes mommy sick days)
     4.  Some activities won't work the cheap way, so don't be to proud to skip it.
     5.  Kids, unlike us, get pleasure out of simple things so if something doesn't work perfectly give yourself a break.

Adventures In Crafting: Alphabet Week Day 1

So it's day one of my attempt to introduce a curriculum into my two year old's daily life.  This week is alphabet week.  The plan is to do alphabets and crafts relating to the alphabet all week.  I began shopping for the crafts on Sunday after I spent all of Saturday evening coming up with ideas and man was it stressful.  I also had to stick to a budget and couldn't just go buy anything my heart desired.

The plan was to start with an activity which I feel was an original creation but, as I have learned, I am sure it was an idea that I came across at some point in my research that penetrated my  brain and hid.  I made up a game where I was going to collect pictures from the internet that cover the whole alphabet and post them on a board.  CJ would then use alphabet blocks to connect with each picture.  Keep in mind.  This was the plan so I stayed up pretty late using a book to make a grid on the poster board because apparently in my shopping haste and excitement I forgot I would need a ruler at some point.  I then used a marker to make the lines pop and make the board more exciting and colorful my munchkin.  Before I knew it, it was too late and I was exhausted so I never got the pictures glued onto the board and I hadn't bought the Woodsie blocks for  to paste on the letters.



The next morning, when it was almost time (on the schedule) to play "Match the Picture with The Letter", I realized I didn't have a lot of time to glue the pictures on so I came up with writing the letters in the spots where the pictures go (I wanted to keep them in alpha order to reduce confusion) so I can be more efficient in my pasting.  Well that led to a new game, "Help Mommy Paste The Pictures On Their Corresponding Letter".  Well I wouldn't use the word corresponding with my two year old. Ha Ha.

As you can see from the picture, CJ found it more enjoyable to get on top of the board and point out the letters.  After a few minutes of coming up with creative ways to coax my son into playing the game with no luck.  I put the board away. Maybe we can try again later, I thought.

I was not prepared with my planned alligator craft so the day ended with me having to go to Wal-Mart to get more crafts, finding alphabet music and playing that for him, and his usual free play apps on my phone and sesame street.  I did continue to make attempts to play my picture letter game to no avail.  At the end of the day I felt defeated, but with the drive to do better next time and some valuable lessens learned

Things I Learned:  Know that all crafts and games will not take, be patient.
                                You can actually come up with multiple ways to play with crafts based on how the child              
                                 reacts or their interests.
                                 Be prepared ahead of time