Happy Sun, Lots of Fun!

Hey dudes. I'm currently on vacation from life....livin' it up in sunny California! See you next week.

Crafty Corner: Oooh, that's HOT!

So last week, one of my little toddler friends was playing in the kitchen area...cooking oodles of plastic food on the fake ikea stovetop. I can tell you that is was delicious because she offered me several 'bites'. A few minutes later, I was engaged in play in a different area with other friends and looked back over to see how she was doing. Still cooking, she had found 2 little fabric bags (from the baby zone...intended as mini sleeping bags for the baby dolls) and put them on her hands like oven mitts.

It was at that point that I realized the incompleteness of our kitchen set...how is a child expected to cook without the proper protective equipment?? And why did it take me this long to add oven mitts to the party? Also, that kid is wicked smart and quite resourceful...sleeping bags for oven mits. Hilarious and genius.

Although her plan was amazing, my inner crafter could not allow such things to continue another day. I traced her hand right that second and vowed to bring her some new mitts by morning:

Got the pattern, some fabric, sewing machine, go:

The next morning, I took out the mitts to show my budding chefs...and the room was all aflutter. Everyone wanted to use a set...I should have made more. Easy little project = hours of cooking fun!

Sequins & Sofas: Framed

A few months back, I posted about a series of drawings that I was blessed to receive from a family friend. Beautiful sketches crafted by the hands of a gifted artist (read all about it HERE).

It has been on my list of to-do's to get these treasures framed and up on the wall. Mission finally accomplished.

At first, I was leaning towards choosing a matting and making them all 'fancy-like' but then realized that part of their beauty was the uneven edge and 'undone' look. I can see Bunny (the artist) sitting at her drawing table, prepping her tools and grabbing a piece of a drawing board to sketch out some ideas.....possibly on a scrap piece that she had used a portion of the day before. I like the story that the jagged edges of each sketch tell and knew the drawings had to take center stage....I wanted them to POP!

The local art supply store has drawers and drawers of fancy paper....I searched through and landed on a lovely charcoal grey. I cut them to fit the frames and applied the drawings directly to the paper. Boom. Simple and understated....til you come close and see the magic. The detail. The beauty.

Toddler Talk: Hey, What's This?

I have a toddler friend right now that is a very curious little fellow. He wants to know how things work, what's inside stuff, what will happen if he does 'x' or 'y', and looks for teacher attention in whatever way he can get it.

Some of those creative expressions have been (at times) less than desirable...i.e. climbing on the toy shelf, dumping out the recycling bin, trying to open the toilet tank lid.

Although I appreciate his thirst for knowledge, I wanted to give him a different (and safer) outlet for getting my attention and for gathering knowledge about the world around him.

I thought about what he likes most...my attention and asking questions. So I made up a few 'interest cards' of things I know he likes....a smattering of tiny pictures to spur on conversation and curiosity of the mind. I laminated them (of course..because laminating stuff is one of my favorite teacher perks in the whole world), punched a hole in the top of each one and hooked them together with a metal ring. I then attached that to a retractable key card clip (I'm not sure what those things are really called...we call them zippy-do's).

Now when we are engaged in free play or large motor times, I wear the 'interest cards' clipped to my shirt. If my dear little friend is engaging in some exploration that I would rather he not, I call him over to take a look at what I have. He loves the extra focused time with his teacher and is engaged in thought about what he sees. I am able to ask questions and he can tell me what he knows. It has really helped mold his behavior patterns and our interactions towards the positive.