Rainbow Cat

This morning, I was going through my children's art books and I stumbled upon Let's Paint A Rainbow, by Eric Carle.  Immediately, my son was drawn to the simple story of two workers painting rainbow stripes on a building.  We went through the colors of the rainbow, until we hit the color brown, and then pink?  Ok Eric Carle, what were you smoking in the Eighties?  The story ended with a picture of a big cat who's tail was painted like a rainbow.

Anyways, in true art teacher fashion, we made a mini-lesson from the story.  I drew him a cat (just like the end of the story) and I had him identify each color he saw in the rainbow.  He then proceeded to color his cat.

What To Do When There's No Caillou?

Most of us, across the Midwest, have suffered scorching heat this week.  My children have been restless, and stir crazy.  To make matters worse, our internet was out, so that meant no Netflix. My poor children could not watch endless hours of Caillou. Instead, I decided to research some toddler crafts, where I came across this great blog on Pinterest, http://handsonaswegrow.com/2012/06/simple-straw-threaded-shoestring-necklace.html.  Based on this craft, I decided to have the kids create ribbon necklaces with straw beads.

I gathered up some colorful straws, ribbon, a plastic threading needle, and children's scissors.  My son,  obsessed with scissors, intently cut each straw.  

With help, each child easily threaded the straw pieces on their piece of ribbon to make a necklace.  This was a really fun and easy craft, which kept them occupied for over an hour!  

Expect the Unexpected

This morning, I was scrambling along, quickly trying to get myself and my two children ready to leave the house.  We were heading to the city to meet some friends for a nice Sunday brunch.  I was in the bathroom, putting on my makeup oblivious to the goings on around me.  My two and a half year old son had taken the roll of toilet paper off of the holder and made a huge mess.  This was the last thing I needed to deal with five minutes before we were about to leave.  I decided not to get upset.  I gazed into his big brown eyes, and I could tell that he had grandiose intentions.  I calmly asked him what was this creative masterpiece?  He confidently asserted that this was a road. Not any road, but a road for Baby.  I then looked at the big mess of toilet paper again.  He was right, it was a road!  At that moment I was proud of my little right brained prodigy.  He is clearly on the road to finding his creative spirit.

"I Spy..."

 

 Lately, my son has been obsessed with the "I Spy" book series.  Usually we'll look through the books together to discover and count all the little obscure objects in the photos.  Today, inspired by the brisk fall day, I decided to create an "I Spy" autumn vignette with my son.  First, went outside and picked up some sticks, leaves, acorns, and the little pumpkins on our porch.  Next, stacked and arranged the items.  Finally, we took a couple of minutes to examine and count our acorns and leaves.  

  This little lesson could easily be adapted for older children, by creating a vignette of their choice.  Take a picture, print it, and then have the child write an "I Spy" poem under the picture.