Two Weeks of Arts & Crafts

On Monday afternoons, we'll have a planned arts or crafts activity. My kids have paper, markers, crayons, colored pencils and other such things available almost all the time. (I have to hide most of it from Second Daughter, especially the markers; she's learned to pull off the tops and then bites the marker off. Lovely.) Our Monday art time will be a special time when I'll plan activities we might not attempt otherwise. As you'll see, I will have to work on my mother-juggling skills a bit.

I thought an appropriate first day of school art activity would be creating handprints of the kids. I found a recipe in The Little Hands Art Book for salt dough that I could bake and let the kids roll it out and press their hand in.




Now, I have these three lovely hand prints...and no idea what I'll do with them. I have to keep them, of course, but I might wrap them up and store them in a drawer. Or perhaps I'll try them out on the mantel, at least for a while.

They puffed up a bit, especially Second Daughter's. Also, they aren't as dry or hard as I'd like. There are other salt dough recipes that we'll be trying out. In fact, I was going to let First Son make a sea star from Sea Life Art & Activities today, but realized I used all the flour last week and forgot to put it on the grocery list.

I decided instead to let them paint. They're always begging to paint and I dread it.

They were thrilled when I suggested it today.


I let Second Daughter "paint" with yogurt, which she loved. She went through three spoons, ate some with her hands and rubbed it all over her tray. It was everywhere and she was pretty happy...for a while.


Eventually, Second Daughter tired of the activity and needed a diaper change, so I told the older two to stay put and I'd be right back. (Famous last words.) The diaper change was messy and I was focused on that when First Daughter appears at the bedroom door, covered in paint and holding her dripping paper. Ack! I send her back to the kitchen and head there to clean up that mess. I find Second Daughter digging through the DVD cabinet when I return to rinse off the diaper. When I clean those messes and return to the kitchen, First Daughter informs me she dumped her water on her painting because she didn't want gray water anymore. It was awesome.


At least they had fun, right?


Kansas Dad would like to build a picnic table for us. When he does, I'm moving all painting outside. (Actually, we're hoping to build a house some day and I'm already dreaming of an art corner with easy-clean floors and walls and a sink right there...)