light, drawing, hands

We've all been sick this week and finding slow, peaceful activities has been key. We made a light table for the first time and we were all entranced. I didn't know but this same box with lights can be used for starting seedlings as it becomes slightly warm. My avid gardener of a sister in law passed on this tid bit.

R's beautiful gum ball machine drawing lying on the warm radiator in the afternoon light.

My sketch for an illustration of Woodie Guthrie's song containing the lyrics "Tom cat, Mama cat".

R's hands working those fine motor skills. He hummed and sang to himself as he worked, calm and happy.

M's sweet hands doing what she loves best right now - drawing.

Boxes are the best

I have probably taken a photograph of my children in a box every week of their lives! They love sitting in them and going to new imaginary places in rockets, planes, cars, fire trucks, elevators and carriages.

This box has had a number of incarnations and on the day that the above picture was taken it was a school. You can see they are sitting on tiny chairs, but what you can't see is the enormous pile of pens at their feet.

I almost forgot that Margot has also made this same box into a Sarcophagus, and herself into a mummy using toilet paper and washi tape!

One of the best things about playing in boxes for me, is that there can be as much or as little direction from the parent. There are endless things that they can come up with on their own, or you can get out the paints and Xacto knife and build a house with opening doors and windows.

Do your kids like to play in boxes? What is their favorite thing to do with them?

I am linking this post to 'a portrait of my kids once a week for 52 weeks' over at lovely Che and Fidel.

#messylabcoloring

I was inspired by Rachelle over at Tinkerlab to help grow the community of artists (large and small) on Instagram. Follow Tinkerlab's tags #creativetable and #tinkersketch.

And join in Messy Lab's too - - #messylabcoloring - - Try to take the photo as your child is in the process of coloring, using natural light and not a flash. We'll get a better chance to really see what you are creating that way.

Add the hashtag to the comment under your photo.

I can't wait to see what you and your kids are collaborating on. 

going with the flow with salt dough

Another title for this post might be 'How to go with the flow when your preschooler wants to do something completely different than the activity you planned to do with her'.

I didn't tell her what I had in mind as I do like to go with the kids creative ideas, but today I did have what I thought would be a fun idea brewing.

I wanted to make salt dough people and creatures and then make a diorama for them.

She wanted to feel the ooey mixture of salt flour and water on her hands.

                           

I wanted to add one color to each ball of dough that would then get made into a specific shape.

She wanted to splatter color all over the big mound of flour and salt.

I wanted to be careful not to get food coloring all over our hands.

She wanted to smoosh all the colors onto the ball and see how many she could get on her hands.

I wanted to break the ball in to smaller pieces and color each of them.

She wanted to make a volcano.

I wanted to play with the volcano.

She wanted to cut the ball in to smaller pieces and bake them 'into candy'.

Before baking on parchment paper for 2 hours at 200 degrees. You can also let them air dry over night.

The stained counter top before I scrubbed it with Bon Ami. 

 It was a wonderful lesson for me to remember to listen and have patience. Do you find it true that you have agendas and lists for the day and if they get derailed it can be very frustrating? If you are a parent, have you become more or less patient when this happens (since having kids)? 

Losing track of my agenda is a daily occurrence for me and sometimes I am more patient than others.

I tend to be more patient if I've slept well, not drunk a glass of wine with dinner the night before, and had 30 minutes to myself before the kids wake up. 

What about you? What helps you to be more patient with your children / co-workers / spouse?