Adventures In Crafting: Shapes Week

This was another week that brought out the good ideas....and the cold virus.

Monday

I copied a craft I found online where you use Q-tips to create shapes.  This was the best as it required no purchases.

Here I printed out connect the dots shapes for coloring.  Just as I learned from my other crafts, he was clearly not able to draw the shapes.  But I drew them and he began to recite the color and the shape so he still learned something.

Tuesday

I made play dough using this unimaginably easy recipe and leftover food coloring.  Side note:  I had such a good time making the dough, I had to force myself to stop after the third batch.  I didn't have the right shape cookie cutters so I used a knife.  He wasn't really interested in the play dough, but really focused on the shapes I had made.  You see the pattern here...mommy has fun, CJ learns.

Wednesday

I finally got myself together enough to make pancakes in the morning and cut them into the shapes we're focusing on this week.  For our activity, I cut sponges into basic shapes and put paint mixed with water (had to save the paint) onto plates and let him soak and smush away on sheets of printer paper I taped together.  I also found pages online where there are hidden shapes and put them in a binder and even tried to make a story out of it.

By Thursday, the cold had overtook the household and we just tried to rest and keep him distracted from the fact that he wasn't going outside.  I really had to be creative here.

Things I Learned:
1.  Kids have endurance when they are sick so don't count them out.
2.  When the kids are sick, rest, because you could be joining them soon.

Adventures In Crafting: Week of Five Senses

This was my favorite theme thus far.  I came up with so many ideas of how to make this into crafts and games for my son.

Monday

The day of Taste.  This was the best of the five as it was so fun to observe.  It was pretty simple, I searched around the house to see what types of foods we had and what type of flavor it produced and quickly made labels and cut.  I put them in whatever container was cleaned and lined them up in a way that would be appealing to my son and he went to work.  I think he only absorbed the concept of sweet, but it was so hilarious to watch his facial expressions after he tasted the different flavors.  Despite the look from tasting the lemon and lime, he kept trying it.  I was on the floor laughing hysterically because he just crawled back and forth on the table trying the lemon and then the lime.

I also created a book showing him how other animals eat.

Tuesday

The sense for this day was Sight.  After a morning attending his first art class, we ended the day with a glue the eyes on the face craft.  I printed clipart blank faces (making sure I at least had a male and female face) and printed different color eyes on card stock and cut them.  I had to throw in the plastic eyes that move, because they are his favorite.

Here we went into my closet, the only room than can be made dark in the day time, where I used a flashlight to create different visual images.  Believe it or not, each of these activities lasted only like 15 minutes.  He was not fully sold.

Wednesday

Touch, was the theme of the day.  It was also my turn to watch my friend and neighbor's daughter so we added an extra activity in, baking cookies.  It was so fun and the cookies were delicious.  Then I did a simple game with my son where I put different textured items in a brown paper bag and let him dig in.  He totally ignored the descriptions, but that didn't stop me from narrating every time he went into a new bag.

Thursday and Friday became free days.  Although I had hearing and smelling activities planned, mommy had some work to do.  A visit from the grandparents kept him entertained while I got to work.  Fortunately he has his My Gym class on Thursdays for his organized activity.

Things I learned:
1.  Just because I am excited about a craft or activity does not necessarily mean it'll go over well with my two year old
2.  Not age appropriate, doesn't mean he won't have fun with it.
3.  If you have things to get done, do so.  The children will survive.