Intentional Weekend: Nature Center

A visit to the Nature Center is always time well spent.

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Checking out the snakes and chatting with the naturalist to see if he thinks the snake at Bull Run last spring was a Cottonmouth. (He doesn't, phew.)

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Watching turtles and waving at fish.

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Trusting that the glass is sound and secure.

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Examining the garden and marveling at new growth.

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And maybe the most fun of all: singing and dancing on the outdoor stage. We're looking forward to going back and being spectators when the Arts in the Parks take stage. See you there?

Creative Inspiration: Paint Creekside

Morning dawned bright and beautiful. When the question was posed, they couldn't decide: drag the easel outside and paint in the sunshine or go to the woods and play in the creek?

It hit us all at once.

Duh.

Paint Creekside! 

So we did.

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{quick big brother assembly}

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{The best watercolor water  for nature pictures is collected in the creek}

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{sittin' 'n' thinkin'}

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{she dresses herself.}

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{sharing sunnies from karoline's easter basket. sarah annie looks worried that she's going to be cut off.}

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{serious stuff}

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{Nick's masterpiece}

Chasing Away February Gray

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When the outside is undoubtedly gray, day after day after day,

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it's time to make color come alive inside.

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I like to wait until midwinter for

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an infusion of new color

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with which to doodle,

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jot,

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and journal...

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We can get them all broken in just before it's time to capture the glorious colors of spring.

See Ginny for a grand collection of color.

{This winter's art supplies come from Stubby Pencil Studio. I was not compensated in any way for this post. We're just getting to know them, but so far, we're pleased:-)}

 

Happy Morning Crafting

Gracie is an early bird, often ready for the day to begin an hour or more before the other girls awaken. Nicholas is often up, too, but he wants his quiet and his sports headlines and he isn't a very good early morning companion. Just so happens that Gracie doesn't really need to talk to anyone in the morning; she's happiest with a bottle of glue, some markers and popsicle sticks. Crazy, ridiculous happy.

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So, this summer, I called to mind my own happy mornings at a preschool in Charlottesville, where we'd take a few moments the night before to prepare a table for arriving children the following morning. Usually, we'd leave out the makings of a very simple craft or drawing activity. The assumption is that teachers might be busy greeting children or talking with parents, so these should be activities that required little or no instruction or supervision. Honestly, though, I loved it when I could pull up an undersized chair and work right alongside them.

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This summer, the "school" table in the sunroom has been a perpetual craft table. I tidy it at night and try to leave something inspiring there for Gracie and whoever shakes off sleep and joins her there.

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My very favorite activity at that long-ago preschool was making "stained glass pictures." (I've even shared it with you previously.) We'd cut tissue paper into squares and leave them in a basket for the children. Then, we'd water down some liquid starch and provide soft paintbrushes and plain white copy paper (this doesn't work as well with construction paper). The children would place the dry squares on the white paper and then paint over them with starch, overlapping at will. Can't quite capture it, but there's something infinitely relaxing and rewarding about this process. Really, you must try it.

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This summer, we took the basic idea and tried it with glass jars, after I saw something similar on a blog I've now forgotten. [Please email me if this was you--I'm happy to link:-)]

Instead of starch, I used diluted white glue. I gathered jars of all sorts. My favorite shape is a Dijon mustard jar.

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The children "painted" on the squares, being careful not to leave any edges dry.

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It was a rewarding process and they were surprised to see how different each person's jar was, though they'd all begun with the same materials.
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The finished product is both beautiful and useful.
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While they make lovely flower vases, do be careful. They don't take kindly to water drips and filling and emptying is most definitely a mom job.

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They make lovely votive candle holders, though.
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And my absolute favorite pencil holder ever.
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Beautiful, useful crafts that even the littlest hands can successfully complete.

Happy summer morning!