Artwork

Art projects just aren't my thing as a stay-at-home mom. I rarely dig out materials to have the kids lose interest in .2 seconds. Not to say that it never happens. Recently I've made a very distinct effort to do more artsy crafty activities with the kiddos. That being said, it has also led to the accumulation of papers around the house-- and I cherish those papers, I do. However, many of them have found their way to the recycle bin after being displayed on the fridge for awhile. But not without me taking some photos first! 

September 19 @ MOPS

I printed this off and Jackson completed this work sheet on September 19th. His only challenges were the letters that are similar to others (d/b; p/q). Not bad for a then 3 year old!

Jackson traced most of the dinosaur and drew his head and tail. I snapped this photo on October 8, so he worked on it around that time. 

Jackson enjoyed making this rainbow in October too. {He mainly enjoyed eating fruit loops as he worked}.

Notice the bite missing?! That's because little sister pulled it off the fridge and was trying to eat some of the fruit loops as well. Mind you, this was nearly a week after later. Gross.

This is Jackson's first attempt at writing his name with no help from me! Dry erase boards are genius.

I think i already shared this photo maybe, but I love it. It's a project from MOPS last Spring. The kids took off their shoes, traced, cut and then glued them. on the opposite side. Miss Deborah just loved how Jackson insisted that his dinosaur participate and she traced and cut the dinosaur's feet too. 

This is from the library today- December 11. Drawing tracks and smoke is about as interested as Jackson gets with crayons. 

And lastly, the next projects are ones we worked on this week. I'm a little bit proud for coming up with these on a whim-- the tree one especially because I even made Christmas tree cookies and so it was like an entire "themed" afternoon. Seriously, it was like an out of body experience. But anyway...

I cut simple shapes for the tree, trunk, star and presents. And then I used a whole punch, placed a ton of glue dots on the tree and the kids went to town. I kept adding more and more dots! So simple, but the kids enjoyed it-- and it's a pretty Christmas tree!

And lastly-- this activity is GENIUS. I'm telling you {it's the brainchild of a stressed out Mommy because it's too cold to play outside and the kids have too much energy!} I like these abstract pieces and it was amazing how much it helped with the crazy afternoon energies!

Let me tell you-- this lasted 40 minutes. Seriously. 

1. First, I got out all my scrap pieces of construction paper from other projects. I let Jackson practice cutting, a skill I know they test for pre-k. He loves to use scissors (kid ones definitely!) and it was good practice too! Eventually, he got bored. 
2. So I began to think how to expand the project. And I remembered that one time the librarian at storytime told us that tearing paper was a great way to practice fine motor skills. So then the kids tore into smaller pieces! 
3. Eventually we ended up with a million pieces of construction paper all over the table (and floor). The dots of glue were a hit earlier in the week, so I tried it again. I did about 6 dots at at time. And Jackson was completely into the project... carefully selecting his pieces. Belle enjoyed it too! It's rare for Jackson to ever care that anything is colorful (he colors with black, 5 seconds top) and he was so proud of all of these colors. 

So not only was this a long (worth the effort of getting out materials and cleaning up mess) project, but the kids also practiced good skills! It entertained my not-interested-in-art son and it was a great way to utilize my construction paper scraps. And we have some pretty new artwork for the fridge. Win, Win, Win, Win!