We were having cold-spring-like weather in late June, so here is a good indoor craft we did (though will also work for the now-sweltering heat!): Flower “stained glass” windows. I saw this idea over at The Artful Parent. We did briefly head out to the yard to gather flowers & leaves, which was a nice respite from being inside.
Bl choosing flowers to pickHave I mentioned Bl REALLY likes being outside?Weeds are a good choice
Materials:
– contact paper ( got a 12″ x 36′ roll at Walmart for about $5)
– paper plates
-exacto knife & cutting mat/cardboard ( to cut middle out of plate)
-scissors (to cut contact paper)
-flowers/leaves
Bl was a bit interested in pulling the leaves off the flowers (what toddlers isn’t?), but lost interest in sticking them on the contact paper. Bl took a piano break.
Which was okay, because that left Mommy with a pile of flowers to play with. There is WAY worse ways to be left.
Once it was “completed”, I covered it with another piece of contact paper (flowers sandwiched between the sticky sides). I left the contact paper long, and used the overhang to stick it to the window (not pretty, but toddler-watching-quick).
Voice of experience: be careful how you apply the contact paper/ smooth it down, so the petals/leaves don’t get folded over the wrong way
Bl checking out Mommy's work
After seeing the first finished product, Bl was much more interested in taking part. Unfortunately, so was Mommy….
*sigh* *process, not product….*
Once the flower carnage was over, and Bl had moved on to other things, I recreated my flower mandala.
Bl appreciating the view
I tried the activity again with Br (3 1/2). He was certainly more interested in taking part, but wanted to generally put the whole flower on, rather than individual petals, despite my explanations it would be very lumpy and not as easy to see through.
I had Br help figure out how big to cut the contact paper ( lesson in relative size) and cut it (scissor practice= fine motor skills).
Br measuring & cutting the contact paper for his "stained glass"
Okay, so Br was probably more interested in the chance to use big scissors than the artistic design.
Br's completed design-Notice his rapt attention to smoothing the contact paper on carefully.... 😉 Oh well.
It will be interesting to see how the boys differ doing this activity in the future, but was pretty decent for a first-attempt. Okay….mostly, I enjoyed playing with the flowers….
Post Script: both kids found these way more interesting once they were hung on our sliding glass door- it was neat to see the details that showed up in the flowers & leaves once a little light was shining though them.
In wandering the internet a couple days ago, I discovered another way I have been parenting wrong. Aargh! And there were studies. Double Argh!!
Apparently I shouldn’t be saying “Good Job!” all the time. This article explains how using “good job!”, and other equivalent positive reinforcements, will make my child into a dependent, timid, apathetic praise junkie with no internal moral compass. And I’ll steal his joy. Triple Argh!!!
Since I read this, I’ve been paying attention to how often I say “Good Job!”
I say it a lot.
Now I am internally cringing whenever I say it. As opposed to actually not saying it. Haven’t managed that yet….
At least the guy provided some options for what else we SHOULD be saying. I posted them here for those of you pressed for time (and so I can reference them easily as I try to go in to “Good Job!” recovery):
And what can we say when kids just do something impressive? Consider three possible responses:
* Say nothing. Some people insist a helpful act must be “reinforced” because, secretly or unconsciously, they believe it was a fluke. If children are basically evil, then they have to be given an artificial reason for being nice (namely, to get a verbal reward). But if that cynicism is unfounded – and a lot of research suggests that it is – then praise may not be necessary.
* Say what you saw. A simple, evaluation-free statement (“You put your shoes on by yourself” or even just “You did it”) tells your child that you noticed. It also lets her take pride in what she did. In other cases, a more elaborate description may make sense. If your child draws a picture, you might provide feedback – not judgment – about what you noticed: “This mountain is huge!” “Boy, you sure used a lot of purple today!”
If a child does something caring or generous, you might gently draw his attention to the effect of his action on the other person: “Look at Abigail’s face! She seems pretty happy now that you gave her some of your snack.” This is completely different from praise, where the emphasis is on how you feel about her sharing
* Talk less, ask more. Even better than descriptions are questions. Why tell him what part of his drawing impressed you when you can ask him what he likes best about it? Asking “What was the hardest part to draw?” or “How did you figure out how to make the feet the right size?” is likely to nourish his interest in drawing. Saying “Good job!”, as we’ve seen, may have exactly the opposite effect.
This doesn’t mean that all compliments, all thank-you’s, all expressions of delight are harmful…….. The good news is that you don’t have to evaluate in order to encourage.
Have any of you discovered a parenting practice you found out you shouldn’t be doing? I’d love to hear about it (maybe I need to stop doing it too…) Good luck on your habit breaking!
There was a potluck lunch at Br’s (3 1/2) preschool for the last day of the regular school year. We were supposed to bring “something with fruits or vegetables”, so I asked Br if he wanted to make “his salsa” for his friends at school.
We’d made this once before. Br really enjoyed doing, and we all ate it, even Bl! It is surprisingly good, and is a great way to get Br involved in the kitchen.
Materials:
-Bowl
-Kitchen Shears
-canned “Fire Roasted Tomatoes”
-can opener
-green onions
-herbs (we used fresh oregano & fresh cilantro*)
-lime/lemon (optional)
-tortilla chips (or anything else you like to eat with mild salsa)
*depending on the herbs you use (& the size of the leaves), the parent may want to chop them up first to avoid a “salad” feel
Open the can of fire roasted tomatoes (I let Br turn the handle for the can opener once I had it started). Dump them into the bowl. Arm child with the kitchen shears and have them go at it (with appropriate warnings about sharp scissors and the avoidance of appendage or little brothers)!
Br chopping his salsa
I chopped the root end of the green onion off, then passed it to Br to cut up with the kitchen shears. He cut a lot of the pieces really big, so I pointed out to him to cut them smaller with his shears once they were in the bowl.
I had Br pull the leaves of the herbs of their stem. For the oregano, I showed him how to lightly pinch the stem and pull it through his fingers to get all the leaves off at once. He thought that was pretty amusing. I chopped the cilantro for him, then had Br use a little scraper to put it in the bowl. I had Br smell the different ingredients, and taste it at different points to “decide what we needed to add”, to help bring in the sensorial component.
We also put in a squeeze of lemon. I squeezed it with my hand, but I probably could have had Br do it if we’d used a citrus juicer or reamer.
Stir, check there aren’t any giant chunks left (and if there are, have them cut them with the shears), and sample!
Post Script: Br had tried to pressure some of his kid friends to try it who apparently weren’t “salsa fans”, but I got a number of compliments from the parents & teachers, & they were shocked to find out Br had made it himself!
