Friday, March 21, 2008

Crafty

I was looking at some cute crafts my sister-in-law had done with her kids today and wondering why I won’t try to do fun little things like that more often. I did once let them paint colorful milk on bread before toasting it. That was a hit, and I’m not bad at giving them “tasks” to complete with a picture – something they must create like a new planet and the creatures that inhabit it or some such. But, in truth, that is generally just to keep them busy and I am not involved until called in at the end to view the finished products. Perhaps even worse than the not-so-bad fact that I don’t do creative stuff with them very often, is the awful fact that I sometimes discourage them doing such things themselves simply because of the potential for mess. Take Daisy for example. She is actually quite the crafty girl in her own right. There is always so much cut up paper, glue, etc. left around after though that I am not always encouraging. Still, I’m trying to be less concerned about the clutter. I didn’t even make a peep when Goldie dumped out several bags of beans yesterday so she could glue them to paper:
And here is a little of the stuff Daisy has managed to create despite my "stop the mess" nature:
She had made a mouse in school and then came home and all on her own helped Goldie recreate a similar thing.
Another time she made a bus and used those little metal clips that splay out in back (which I didn’t even know we had) to make the paper wheels actually turn.
She seems to enjoy collages where she will make the shape of a holiday thing and fill it in with paper, stickers and marker – such as this Christmas tree.
But here is something so cute it makes me want to cry. It is my favorite thing ever made by one of my children. This was actually made by 3 year old Goldie this Halloween. Abe and Daisy were busy doing there own sophisticated crafts and weren’t interested in helping her, so all on her own she made this spider. She did all the cutting and taping of body and legs (which is tricky for those inexperienced little hands) as well as the drawing of the face. When she showed me this little spider she’d done all on her own I nearly passed out at being so in love with my child (that is one thing I love about motherhood. Not just the constant love for your child, but the occasional waves of nearly crushing adoration).

9 comments:

Salty Incisor said...

I love that spider too, so sweet. I never let Ja ck
have a writing utensil for fear of marking the walls, but he got to preschool and couldn't scribble, so Henry can have stuff to write with, but I have markings all over my walls now(of my brand new house no less)!!
I do hate the scraps and paper clutter, but they have improved much since I have given them free reign

Lover of Sweets said...

Oh how endearing that little spider is! I have so so so many drawings and "presents' from Chookie especially all around the house...she is so happy to make them...I need to make a wall of fame where I switch the pictures out once they've had their time in glory.

So the jumbled letters at the bottom look like this; which I find kind of offensive because my birthday is in April and it looks like "gaypril"...is this some sort of sick joke?

Perla said...

i love those projects. and my kids make lots of messes but luckily they are pretty good at cleaning them up. i wish grace and daisy could make projects together!

BS and the Kids said...

What a crafty little girl, I am quite impressed. I need to be better at this too.

The San Diego Mills said...

Hi Nancy,
This is Jessica's sister Melissa speaking! She gave me your blog address, which I hope don't mind. She told me that you have a very funny blog, so I thought I'd like to look at it. Anyhow, if you would like to visit my blog the address is
http://lissrynady.blogspot.com/
Good to see that all is well with you and the cute kids!
Melissa

Anonymous said...

Despite their Mother's lack of enthusiasm for crafting, your children seem quite talented - sure to win some sort of future recognition for their promising abilities!
Really - looks good! Especially Daisy's collages - so creative!

And WHAT?!? You let Goldie - a 3 year old - use scissors on her own???? Nancy!!!

Gracie J said...

Oh that spider is beyond precious! She did such a good job. Ana is also crafty and I too have a hard time dealing with the messes, but am trying to get better about it as well. The first mention of play-doh and I'm signing with sadness, but generally give in and it ends up keeping the child busy for an hour+.
And just so you know, those "little metal clips that splay out in back" are called "brads." :)

Gracie J said...

And I meant to say that I'm SIGHING with sadness, not SINGING or SIGNING. I do neither one nor the other when play-doh is asked for.

Nancy said...

Oh I am laughing. I wish you would only sign or perhaps sing your answers about play-doh to Ana.

Play-doh, it's the messiest.

P.S. You think you're so smart. You probably have brads all around your house.

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