May I Take Yo Order? Playdough Style

My kids could play with playdough for hours, and they do if I let them. They got a playdough hamburger/fast food station for Christmas. So, we have made a lot of hamburgers. Kids have such amazing imaginations, though, and we've made many other things too with this set. The great thing about it is that they are gaining many new skills from this activity. Probably more than I know. But they're learning counting, color mixing, many different fine motor skills, sorting, and more. I just love playdough. And the whole color mixing thing was hard for me. "Don't mix the playdough, you'll ruin it." "Why do I even buy these colors if you're just going to smash them together and make them all brown????"

BUT I got over it, because I've realized that when I restrict the kids on how they play with certain things (I mean restrict in a way that it hinders their imagination because I'm a bit particular about how things should be, like how I don't think playdough should be mixed) they just don't play with those things. And then, they sit around gathering dust, wasting money in the process because nobody's playing with them. So, playdough is cheap, and really, the kids basically get playdough thrown at them at every holiday event via gifts from kids at school. And when we run out, we can just make some more, and I can then write about it on here, telling everyone my own personal playdough recipe and how much fun it is to make playdough.

Here's a still shot of the kids at play. We really get into it and add new "tools" every time:



I also enjoy this activity because I have fun myself making perfect little hamburgers out of the untainted (yet) perfectly colored playdough.

Painting with Poem, "The Moon"

I came across this great idea for an art project on a blog called "The Wonder Years." (I'm too lazy/short on time to link it, so google it) The idea is to get your child to paint a picture reflective of a specific poem. The poem I used was about the moon. To start off this project, I set up a sheet of paper for each child on the table (it was too cold to do it outside), and set out three brushes for each. Then I told them that the colors red, yellow, and blue were going to get together and play today. I used an empty egg carton to put their paint in, and told them to use one brush for red, one for yellow, and one for blue. Then I described the poem to them. I'm not exactly sure, but I think this type of painting goes along with the Waldorf method of painting.

I told them to paint what I described. I said things like, "What do you think the sky looks like behind the moon?", "The moon is big and round.", "The moon shines moonbeams down on the ground.", and "There is a tiny star beside the moon." I gave them time between each question or comment to paint it out. When they were finished I put away all the paint and brushes. Then I told them to look at their painting while I read the poem.

Here were the finished works of art:



The poem we used for this project was "The Moon" by Eliza Follen:

Oh, look at the moon she’s shining up there,

Oh, mother, she looks like a lamp in the air!

Last week she was smaller and shaped like a bow,

But now she’s grown bigger and round as an ‘O.’

Pretty moon, pretty moon, blow your shine on the door

And make all bright on my nursery floor,

You shine on my playthings and show me their place.

And I love to look up at your pretty, bright face,

And there is a star close by you and maybe

That small twinkling star is your baby!

They really had a lot of fun doing this. Now, it didn't go picture perfect, exactly how I'd planned, but that's how everything is with kids. The result of this exercise was a sweet painting that each child was very proud of. Afterwards, they wanted to paint more so I gave them more paper and said to paint away.