Yesterday my husband had his first law school final for the semester, so he didn't get home until nearly 9:30 p.m. After dinner, the Lil Monkey started to get antsy, so I enticed him to clean up so we could make some Christmas ornaments for our holiday gifts (and a few for the tree).
Now, I am a self-diagnosed with control issues when it comes to crafts and creative stuff for sure. So, I really have to remind myself that doing crafts with him does not have to be picture perfect or even make sense some times. It's about being creative and having fun. He's 4, so there is lots of time for people to put him "in a box" or give him parameters later.
Earlier this week, we had tried to make some reindeer ornaments but didn't get too far because he was getting frustrated with the glue no drying instantaneous! This time, we were making wreaths, from a prepared kit, just like the reindeers. This time, I set him up at the kitchen table, with all of the pieces sorted and said we were going to do an assembly line - I would tie the string on foam wreath and then he could glue the buttons on them. Later we would tie the bows and glue them on. He had no idea was assembly-line was, but said we were working like elves. Ok, elves it is.
We got quite a few of them done in that last hour before bed time. He event invited his imaginary friends, Stella and Sam, to help us. Then he helped them with the glue and buttons later on so that they would have some ornaments too.
I guess tonight we may try to get some more done. It was fun working on this project and watching him decided what "patterns" he wanted to use for the red and white buttons. We talked about taking the "centers" that we pulled out of the middle and making about half of them Mickey Mouse themed, but we'll see. I'm not sure if he will want to put a photo in the center or not. I'll let him decide when we get to that stage.
While we are on the subject of kids crafts, the Lil Monkey also made these ornaments with my sister, Moo-Moo, when we were visiting my family last weekend.
I encourage you crafty moms to include your children in activities. Sometimes it hard, I'll admit, because I want something to be perfect. But I always try to keep a spare project nearby so that if he does try to help on a not-so-kid-friendly project, I can give him something to do to keep his creativity inspired.
Until our next cup of tea ...
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