Art Experiments

I like to put random things out on the table from time to time to encourage Gerrick to experiment with art. Some may call this a provocation; others may call it strewing the environment; I like to call it putting some stuff on the table. More times than not he completely ignores it, and I end up putting it all away so we have room to eat dinner. Yesterday after lunch I put these things out...


It all sat untouched for 4.5 hours. But as I was prepping dinner, he noticed it, "Hey, what's all this?"
"Oh, that's just some stuff I thought you might like to experiment with." (Bingo.)



Busy, busy, busy...asked for a toothpick.



Then he asked for a whole box of toothpicks and made a puffer-fish.
Then he painted his hands and said that he was trying to make his skin look reddish like an Indian.

Some people may think that this kind of play isn't important and is just making a big mess. I disagree because "the lessons we learn during play, we apply when we are working to create something important to us." (Camp Creek Blog)

Sometimes I Have to Bite My Tongue...

We encourage Gerrick's creativity by providing him free access to materials like Sharpies and scissors. Sometimes that leads to him altering his toys. I shouldn't have a problem with that, but sometimes I do for a split second. I just have to bite my tongue and remind myself that they are his toys, not mine. Here are just a couple of recent examples:

Christmas Village 2009

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Village today...
White trees are always cool.

We bought the sock monkey in a stocking ornament.







The boy loves jewelry!Eventually I had to drag him out of this booth because so many people were crowding behind us for a turn, but not before I bought this for myself...



He's decided that he'd like to learn how to make jewelry. Sounds like fun to me. Any of you have any tips, helpful websites, or general words of wisdom? I think we need a tutorial from Marcy on how to make these cool rings.


I'm foreseeing lots of jewelry, so we'll be needing to make something like this to hang it all on too. ;)





I love these frames and have been motivated to work on my own frame project which I will hopefully be showing you soon.


This white chocolate popcorn is delicious! (They had samples.)Now I sure am wishing I had bought us a bag. Maybe we'll try to make some; I'll let you know how it goes.