Impromptacrafting

I like impromptu crafts. I like using stuff I already have on hand and I like pulling out the materials as soon as I think of or see a fun idea. I am not practical. What would be the opposite of practical... .. whatever it is, that's me. I make messes even though I know I am the one that will have to clean them up. (I guess Annette 'helps' clean up a little bit.) We can be in our pajamas when we craft or in our Sunday dress, and I'll think it's a good time to get the paints or play dough out. Our creations aren't usually fancy. Because I want Annette to be the main 'creator'. But don't get me wrong, I like a fancy craft too. It's just a little tricky thinking of crafts that a 2 year old can do without much adult intervention. If I have done most of the artistic work myself, it is usually more fun for me than for her.

So, we generally stick to simple, impromptu crafts. Here's what we've done this last week.

Paper Plate Crafts

There are so many cute paper plate crafts out there. And we usually have them on hand at our house, so they make for easy and inexpensive fun.

I've seen this rainbow idea before, but when I saw it on that cute Crafty Crow blog just the other day I realized Annette could do this activity pretty much on her own now. So I bought some off brand Fruit Loops (b/c we don't usually eat cereals made of pure sugar:) The box sat in the pantry a couple of days until we had the urge and time to get crafty. Which was Saturday morning... in our pajamas, while Isaac spent some time with Charlie.

A good sorting activity. We promised to only eat the broken ones;)

I put a thick line of glue around the outside edge of the paper plate. I let her help me with the other rows of glue. She's pretty good with glue actually. Except when you leave her alone with it. Once, I went to the bathroom for less than 5 minutes and found her with an opened glue bottle in her bedroom. She had poured it all over her hardwood floors. That was not my favorite mess to clean up. It was just another form of sealing the wood, right?

Finished product. Cute little rainbow. We talked a bit about how a rainbow is a sign of one of God's promises. Sweet memories.

While we had the glue and scissors out, we decided to make this cute Bunny plate I saw on a bulletin board in the hallway of CAC elementary. That's where I tutor a couple of students twice a week. I get lots of good ideas from the wonderful teachers there.

This is one of those projects where I had to do a lot of the work. I let her have her own paper plate to cut on, as I tried to show her how to cut the ears for the bunny and such. She ended up coming up with her own little creation inspired by the last rainbow craft. See picture of her finished black and white rainbow a couple of photos below.

Can you tell which of the black whiskers (above) she cut out all by herself?

I showed her how to cut whiskers. She is amazing with a pair of scissors. My mom and I were brave enough to let her learn how using a dull pair of children's scissors. It took her a few months of practice, but she's got it down now.

Mental Note: Do not leave her alone with scissors like I did that time with the glue. 

I will only have myself to blame the day she thinks to cut her own hair... or Charlies. Yikes : / 

Above is her black and white rainbow. SHE cut the arch herself. Proud teaher/mama.

Below is the bunny craft that 'we' created. I did most of the work, so it's probably not the most age appropriate craft. I like her little rainbow creation just as much. If not more. Okay, I like hers a lot more...
because her little hands did the whole thing:)

Play dough.

We do this amost every day. While I fix supper or unload the dish washer, Annette gets to play with this stuff on our kitchen table. She used to play on the coffee table, but then Charlie got to walking around and he just wants to eat it. So, the kitchen table keeps it away from him. And yes, it makes a mess. That's one reason my kitchen table is from Savers and painted to look 'distressed'. I would just rather be messy and creative than neat and clean all the time. I know some moms that can do both. But unless one day I am blessed with an extra room I can turn into a craft room, I'm going to lean towards the messy side of life. No surprise to my friends and family. I may have dried play dough crusties on my floor or in the leaf cracks of the table, but I try to remind myself that those are the signs of good memories:)

What do we do with the play dough? We use fun 'tools'. And of course, I show her fun things you can do with the stuff. Most kids will get bored with craft supplies if you don't show them 'how' to get started. And there are a million things you can teach with play dough. I'll list some of the stuff we do with it.

-Cut it. We have play dough scissors, but now that she can cut well by herself, she uses regular safety scissors to cut the dough into french fries and other fun shapes.
- Use rolling pins. We make pancakes and circles and pizzas.
-Roll it into balls, and ovals, which we call eggs this month.
-With our 3-D shapes, we have learned the words 'cube' and 'sphere' so far.
- We (cringe) mix the colors sometimes to see what will happen. But not all the time:)
-Push it through the holes in a play dough toy to make a bowl of spaghetti or to create a 'hair do'.
- we make cupcakes with molds