Nope, no baby yet but we did get a neat chalkboard for our dining area! Our friends the Walkers in England had one by their kitchen table and I thought it was the neatest thing. You could put up a bible verse, draw a picture, write the letter of the day... whatever we want. As you can see, Dave initiated the chalkboard with a picture of our family. Me (with a big head), Dave (not so big of a head but in need of a haircut) and John with his basketball. The two other necessary additions to our family are the basketball hoop and the Strike Eagle. John loves these things and asks for them often. When Dave drew the basketball hoop, John got his basketball and threw it at the chalkboard. We had to remind him that it was just a picture of the basketball hoop, not the actual hoop itself. Crazy kid!So tonight I was running low on butter and Dave asked me to make some chocolate chip cookies. I decided to try to make them but instead of using a cup of butter (which grosses me out anyway but is a part of the recipe) I just used 3/4 cup and decided to see how they came out. Well you couldn't even tell that there wasn't as much butter as there should have been! I love it! I love healthy shortcuts to sweets as I love to eat them.
Okay so are all you mothers out there crafty ladies? I just am not a crafty lady. I love art and art projects if you give me all the supplies and instructions, but I strongly dislike inititating art projects. However, I feel like I am letting John down because I don't do creative crafty things with him. I play basketball with him all day long, and we do color on paper and do sidewalk chalk. But I am wondering if anyone else out there didn't do crafts with their kids and their kids still turned out okay?? Or am I not developing one side of his brain if I don't do creative things with him?
Our verse for February is Gen 16:13- "You are the God who sees me." John has picked this one up very quickly which is fun and gives me time to expand on it throughout the month, such as talking about how God is always with us and sees us when we are happy and when we are sad.
We hope you are well!
Cheers.
7 comments:
Since he likes planes, maybe teach him to fold and fly paper airplanes?
Or maybe buy a book of simple craft ideas for toddlers, they'll be easy and come with instructions :-)
~Mary Spencer
Love the new chalkboard!
I don't do many crafts with my kids either. I'm just not the "crafty" type. I do make peanut butter play dough that she can play with (and eat..and I admit that I like to taste it myself!) and I also let her color and use stamps. That's about as crafty as it gets around here. I figure we all have talents and skills and, whereas you and I may not do as many crafts, some parents don't encourage sports, drama, music, etc. I think he'll be just fine :)
I like and agree with the other comments :) There are lots of toddler craft books out there for not much $; they are full of easy/fast/cheap ideas. Let him draw on the chalkboard, maybe?
Jack did a crafty project in sunday school last week that he hasn't stopped talking about since. The teacher let the kids string bracelets out of froot loops and pipe cleaners. We replicated this at home with some less-exciting organic kashi cereal and the bracelet was eaten in less than 30 seconds. (No love lost from the froot loops.)
I'm not sure about the bible lesson in this, though...
I LOVE the chalkboard!! That is a great idea...where did you find it?
And you know me and crafts...I love 'em!! Here are some websites that have some good ones...
This one allows you to designate age:
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/
This one you can designate age/holiday/time frame:
http://crafts.kaboose.com/
Here's a cute egg carton bug:
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/bugcrafts/a/blbugeggs.htm
But you know what? I guarantee that John will be just as smart/funny/sweet/good-natured if you never break out even one googley-eye, or glue stick!! You love him, you're an excellent mommy, and that's all he needs :)
Much love to you!!
Hi Kate! I am totally NOT crafty either but Adam LOVES crafts. We seemed to rarely do crafts/projects at home because Zach is just not at a great age for it right now. Anyhow, here are a couple blogs I came across (maybe from Janell's blog??) lately that have some fun ideas:
http://totallytots.blogspot.com
http://mommyplaywithme.blogspot.com
I also used to use the book "Slow and Steady Get Me Ready" by June Oberlander all the time. It has great ideas for projects to stimulate your kids brain at all ages. Hope this helps!
I know you can buy blackboard paint and turn any surface (or cheap piece of wood) into a blackboard :)
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