Painting Feet

One day while I was doing laundry I went out back to see what DH and Everly where up to.  There DH was painting Everly's feet and legs, arms and hands.  She LOVED it.  He was also letting her paint him.  I loved that DH would do this with her.  They also painted the deck... in tempra paint.  Which is still there a month later.  Oh well everytime I see it I feel happy thinking about the two of them out there doing this together.

Scissors & drawing

We were at the play centre one day and Everly saw another child using scissors.  She had a go and she did GREAT!  I ran out right away and bought her a pair or kids scissors.  We have been cutting a few times a week and she is getting really good!  She can cut paper into pieces and seems to totally understand to keep her other hand away.  I have started showing her how to cut and then more the scissors to make the cut longer.  I do this a couple times and say "open, cut, open, MOVE, CUT!!"  She is starting to try.  

Using scissors is great for fine motor development and helps them build strength in their hands, which helps with drawing and writing.  We also cut foam tongue depressors, and straws.  

She has become interested in drawing again.  One day I drew a happy face on her paper, and now she always wants me to draw one.  She loves scribbling on it and trying to add arms and legs.  I help her draw her own as well because she wants to.  I read on MDC that to encourage creativity you shouldn't show kids how to draw things and just let them do it on their own.  I was planning to do that but now here we are.  :P  When she is adding arms and legs or eyes, I don't tell her if she is doing it right or not.  I just let her do it her own way. To me this seems like a good balance.

More Creativity

I found this little ceramic (?) easter shapes at the dollar store that came with some paints.  I figured for a dollar why not.  She really enjoyed doing this, although I realized I didn't fully think out my purchase when I smelt the paints!  They were a bit on the toxic side.  Oh well I lived on the edge and let her paint.  I watched her carefully so she didn't get any on her or decide to give it a taste.   She was really amazed when we went back to her egg and it was all dry and shiny.  Once again I had to stop myself from micro-managing the whole process.  It was hard to watch her mix all the paint colours into an ugly brown hue, however she didn't mind and seemed to really like her end product.  The great thing about all this painting we are doing is she seems to be gaining more and more awareness of her colours.  More and more she is pointing to the correct colour when I ask.  Although all colours for the most part are "booo" - blue.

We also made some whole wheat playdough.  We had no white flour, but it worked fine.  We used neon food dye and with the whole wheat flour I really like the end result.  I decided to make her three different colours and not worry if she mixed them up.  So far they have actually stayed separate.  Her favourite thing to do is have me make a bowl and then we make berries and fill up the bowl. 

Egg Carton Caterpillars

My mom used to do this craft with us when we were kids and I always loved it, even when I was much older.  It is SO easy and Pookie just LOVED it.  All you do is cut an egg carton in half to get two caterpillars.  Put a couple holes in the "head" for antena and the rest is up to you.  I put the antenna on and helped Pookie glue on eyes, then drew a happy mouth.  After that she really saw what we were doing and I let her go to town attempting to glue pieces of cut up foam sticks & some feathers.  She worked on it for a long time and did surprisingly well with the glue.  I did my best not to interfere.  I want her to be creative and not do something the way I think it should be done.  For example after explaining to her that you should leave the foam pieces on so they can dry, she decided she would still like to pull them off and put them back on again.  I held back and just let her do what she wanted.  Also I gently explained you just needed a little bit of glue but sometimes she really wanted a lot... again I decided I should just bite my tongue and let her experiment.

We still have the caterpillars and she is enjoying playing with them.  I think next time we will paint first and then glue the next day.

Stressing

The older Pookie gets the more I research all the things I should be doing with her.  The biggest thing I have come away with is that if I offer a stimulating environment and let her explore and play I don't need to worry.  But I still do!  I am trying to do more things with her and to join in when she is playing if she wants me too - which she usually does.  I got out a bag of chick peas and set up with activity for her.  She loves it and will ask for "beeee".  

Should I be doing more arts & crafts with her?  This is my newest stressor.  She loves doing A/C at the play centre so now I feel guilty I don't have adequate supplies at home.  That is my project for this week.  Get her some things to work with - some glue, pictures to stick, stickers etc..   We have been doing lots of drawing.  She prefers pen, and holds the pen correctly.  She even leans in and makes tiny scribbles.  Sometimes she will point to a squiggle and say "E".  The first time this happened she actually pointed to something she had drawn which looked exactly like an E.  Oh course I freaked out and thought she was a genius, but her other attempts to make an E bare no resemblance. 

Well she is calling me!  Apparently bath-time is over.

Early Years Centre

We are really fortunate that the Ontario government funds "Early Years Centres".  These are free play centres for children 0-6.  There are some programs you can register for, and times where you can just go in and use their wonderful toys.  All the toys have a purpose - no junky gadgets.  Pookies favourite activity is arts & crafts.  Today they had paints out which she loved.  She also really loved pouring glue on her hand.  I got some weird looks from some of the other parents,  but she was just exploring and it wasn't hurting anyone.  

Today a little girl (3) played with her for a bit, which she really enjoyed.  That is also why I like going to the EYC - it gives Pooks a chance to play with other children.  

Usually the other mom's, grandparents etc. are either quite nice or just fade into the background but there are now two mom's who really get on my nerves.  

Mom #1 is the screamer.  She is always yelling at her kid, who from what I can see is never doing anything wrong.  Her daughter is perfectly well behaved, but the littlest thing sets this mom off.  I feel bad that the poor kid can never do anything right.  It is always awkward because she is so loud and overall people tend to use quite voices in this place.

Mom #2 was there today and she an over controller.  Anything her kids (4 & 6) chose to do she had to tell them how to do it, or what to do.  I never once saw the kids initiate any play.  Her daughter sat down and just stared at the arts & crafts table, and then the mom basically micro-managed her art work.  Even with the play dough she was constantly instructing them how exactly they needed to play with it.  It made me feel incredibly uncomfortable to watch.  Her kids acted like robots and she was proud.