Getting Creative!

Munchkin and I have just completed a successful craft activity and I'm so excited I just had to share it with you right away!!!

*Note to self: Successful craft activity at this stage in our lives means at least thirty minutes of Mummy prep, and a ten minute activity before the Munchinator has had enough and gone to play with his cars (as he is currently doing)!  Must remember to keep things short and sweet like this so I don't get left to finish everything off.  Grin.

I have been reading a bit about Invitations to Play/Create/Learn online recently, and been impressed into doing something myself, but realised that while we are amply supplied with cardboard and colouring in utensils, we actually lack good preschooler craft materials (you know, things like coloured iceblock sticks, pom-poms, glitter, pipe cleaners and chunky beads).  They are now added to the birthday wish-list.  To be honest, up to this point it has been hard to keep the boy's attention on craft things.  While he has very good fine motor hand skills, he's just too interested in things that move or being outside.  This is not a bad thing, in my mind, so I've just followed those interests.  But being a bit older now, he's showing more interest in drawing and creating (as I write, he has taken a large cardboard box that was lying around in the conservatory and backed his wooden train into it as a garage, then requested some sellotape to close the 'garage door' - I can hear the sellotape being opened and closed, opened and closed!).

Munchkin has had two capes since his second birthday, made for him by me.  But he's shown almost no interest in them.  Until this week.  This week, the three of us (Munchy, Daddy, and Mummy) have been wearing the cape.  And Daddy made an impromptu pretend crown out of a square of cardboard from around a new grater we just bought.  That made me think, what if we make crowns?!  That could be something easy enough to enjoy.

Last night I did some Mummy prep.  I have finally worked out that if I try and do this while Munchkin helps or watches, it makes the activity take too long and he gives up partway through.  Or I want to scream.  Neither being very helpful, last night's efforts were well rewarded.

I set up the table ready for this morning, as an Invitation to Create.  I just used whatever I could find that might work for small hands and a crown, making circles out of coloured foam, strips of paper, etc. after realising that we are seriously lacking in bling!  We don't even have any stickers left!

He noticed as soon as he got up, and came to investigate.  I managed to get him to wait until after breakfast (just) before we started.  A genius stroke was putting the glue into a jar with a brush, instead of trying to pour from the not-so-helpful container it came in.

What we got out of this:
Great coordination required practice...
Wiping the brush against the side of the glue jar to remove excess glue
Holding the brush
Carefully placing items on spots of glue
Collecting up all the little bits to return them to their containers afterwards
Writing M for Munchkin (he holds with my hand over the top)

Chances to talk about patterns (which we will do later when we wear our crowns as I made mine with patterns).

A nice time creating together.

Future times of imaginative play as we enjoy wearing our crowns and capes and pretending to be Kings and Queens.

Now, the only thing I'm wondering is how I get my son to leave all the nice things stuck to his crown!?  He has this tendency to pull them all off again afterwards. Grin.

Services required to help sellotape garage door again.  He has just appeared at my side with a ball of sellotape, asking me to fix it.  Haha, there are some things even a Mummy can't fix my boy!

Amy

Wait...distracted by the package sitting on my desk - he is now opening it for me!  Birthday is going to be fun this year!