kids at play: 8 days of art
Posted in kids at play on Feb 17th, 2010
a giant valentine for Mom and Dad
Georgia O’Keeffe-inspired art
sewing and stenciling
stars and stripes
sugar-cube and vanila frosting buildings
Category Archive for 'kids at play'
6 ways to be creative with your kids this winter
Posted in creativity, kids at play on Jan 28th, 2010
1. Read winter poetry (like this lovely illustrated version of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening) and paint winter landscapes.
2. Catch snowflakes on your mittens. Read books about snowflakes. Cut, draw, or make some of your own.
3. Go outside and make snow angels, snowmen (or snow dinosaurs) and ice sculptures. Have fun! My older [...]
loving to learn
Posted in kids at play on Jan 18th, 2010
Recent highlights from our homeschool:
* We read an illustrated version of Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, and painted snowy trees afterward. This was the kids’ first introduction to spattering paint on purpose.
* After reading several books featuring knights, the kids designed their own coats-of-arms and put them on posterboard [...]
Magical Miss M
Posted in creativity, inspiration, kids at play on Jan 16th, 2010
The tagline of this blog is “writer at play”, but my attitude towards my literary endeavors is more akin to steely-eyed clenched-teeth fortitude these days. I was eyeball-deep in one set of revisions for a couple months; I have since waded into yet another novel revision. While revisions do have their moments of mountain-high elation, [...]
a humorous aside
Posted in creativity, kids at play on Dec 14th, 2009
It occurs to me that my last post may have come across as crotchety and Scrooge-like. Don’t get me wrong: Christmas is my favorite holiday and I love this time of year. I just came out of a fun but social weekend and my Inner Introvert is gibbering in one corner of my head.
So, I [...]
going zany for zebras
Posted in kids at play on Oct 15th, 2009
Back when we were studying the African savanna, the kids and I spent a morning making these cute zebras:
I printed off a zebra coloring page to use as a template and cut out zebra shapes from black and white construction paper. The kids put on masking tape and paper strips for stripes. We also dipped [...]
Picture Books: Exploring Down Under
Posted in kids at play, picture books on Sep 16th, 2009
(Artwork inspired by aboriginal dot paintings by Miss M and Sir I)
Wombat Stew by Marcia K. Vaughan and Pamela Lofts: One day, a very clever dingo catches a wombat and sets about making wombat stew, with a little help from the other animals. Fear not for the wombat, though! My kids loved this one [...]
ooh, shiny
Posted in kids at play on Sep 14th, 2009
This open-ended and process-oriented project was a huge hit with my older two. I mixed up equal parts of white glue and water and gave each child a piece of aluminum foil and lots of cut-up tissue paper. The kids spread the glue all over the foil (shiny side up!) and stuck on the tissue [...]
coral reef
Posted in kids at play on Sep 12th, 2009
This is the coral reef the kids and I made a few weeks ago. The coral is made from salt dough, which we shaped (check out the brain coral I made. It’s the one that, funnily enough, looks like a brain), dried and painted. Then we set about creating inhabitants for our reef. The cupcake [...]
a day in the life
Posted in kids at play, personal, piano, random on Sep 6th, 2009
What? I need a reason?
At the outlet mall yesterday:
Me: And after the kitchen store, we can hit the bookstore!
D: *eyes suspiciously* Do you NEED anything from the bookstore?
Me: Noooooo
D: Then why go in?
Me: Because it’s there, of course! (Silly!)
D: Not buying that. Get thee to a clothing store and buy yourself some jeans.
So, like a [...]