A collection of things I love. Likely to be a very Athens-centric collection. Hopefully you'll love some of it, too.
FAIRY SCHOOL
Fairy school, previously blogged here, has wrapped up.
{Sigh}
What a fun time. What insanely creative girls! When I was teaching real school (not fairy school), my best lessons were always those I was least prepared for. (I attribute this to the fact that I know my stuff when it comes to kiddie-math. Disclaimer, just in case any of my students’ parents are reading this.)
It was one of those weeks at our house, and I just didn’t have a chance to build my example furniture. It was especially one of those mornings the morning of the class, and I had little time to do more than grab the materials. Before I headed out the door (late) to pick up my favorite older students (who made us later), I reminded myself that I work best when flying by the seat of my skirt. And today was magical.
I am so so glad I did not have any fairy furniture to present. The extent of my ‘teaching’ today was to spend five minutes at the beginning of class looking at the materials and asking what a fairy might use it for. A pecan shell, what would a tiny fairy think it is? Answers: A sofa, a cushion, a chair. Good, but minds not quite stretched yet. We went through a few more things and the answers got a bit more creative, and then I let them loose.
Again, thank God I didn’t have examples because I would never have thought of an outside bed with a canopy. The table I designed could not have looked that delicately fairy-ish. Bunkbeds?! Of course fairies need bunkbeds - it’s so obvious now.
Like the week they first made their fairies, they all had the same materials and all made such different stuff. It was wonderful to watch. Like last week, girls who didn’t know each other ended up playing ‘fairy’ after we were done. I know that’s not that unusual for kids, but it still warms my heart to see how easily they make friends.
Thanks, Treehouse, for letting me teach this class. Here’s to future fairy crafting!
Posted by edumacate
2 notes
Comments
#crafts
SHEEP!
I love this super-easy, anyone-can-do-it craft. The first one I made was for a sick little Daisy to cheer her up. We had gone to a sheep farm that morning (thanks, Thiels!) and she was exhausted afterwards. So I made this little sheep for her to play with.
I was so delighted with its simplicity, I threw the supplies into my bag on my way to work. I thought there was a slight possibility I might need an incentive for the first grader I was about to tutor. When I got to the school, he was already bouncing all around, and he had a gigantic cupcake piled high with frosting in his hand. You can imagine how he was after he devoured the cupcake. Bouncy. Extra bouncy. Super bouncy. Not-wanting-to-do-any-schoolwork bouncy.
He likes crafts, though. My little sheep sat watch beside him as he practiced his words. Staring at that sheep was the only thing that kept him going. “Do I really get to make one?” he’d ask. I love how innate the desire to make is in kids.
Like I said, this craft is easy. (Directions below.) This boy is 6 and he was able to complete one in about 10-15 sugar filled minutes. It’s easy to get good, satisfying results from this one. He showed his sheep, which he named Silas, to everyone he passed. I did the same craft with Stella, also 6, and she completed hers in the same time frame. I think it would look very cute to have a pasture of these guys. And then you could build a little fence. And a sheep dog. And a shepherd! And little chickens.
I’m off to make a barnyard now.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
MATERIALS:
Cardboard
Sharpie or black paint
2 Clothespins (the kind with the metal clip, not the old school kind)
Fuzzy white yarn
Glue
Googly Eyes
Black Felt, for those who can remember that sheep need ears
THE DOING:
Out of the cardboard, cut a kidney bean shaped sheep body.
Color the head area black.
Color the bottom (squeezy) part of the clothespins black. Don’t forget to color in between the parts you clip.
Grab your cutest fuzziest yarn, clip one end under a clothespin leg, and start wrapping the yarn around the sheep body. To wrap the sheep bum, use the clothespins as an anchor.* Don’t forget to go in and around the clothespin legs with the yarn too.
Once your sheep body is all wooly, tuck the end piece of yarn in towards the body. Put a dab of glue on the end if you’re worried about it popping out.
Glue on some sticky eyes and there you go. Sheep.
You can also add black felt ears, which would look adorable, but I haven’t remembered to do it yet, and they still look pretty cute.
Posted by edumacate
Comments
Photography + Math = Swoon
Photographer Jessica Eaton makes magical, geometric photographs using a 4x5 camera and multiple exposures. We’re in love.
Posted by edumacate
1,635 notes
Comments
We are making a new kind of fairy in Fairy Village class today. Hope to see you at Treehouse at 1:00.
Posted by edumacate
18 notes
Comments
SPEED BUMPS
I love ideas that are so obvious you wonder how they escaped you. I also love a tip-sans-guilt about kids and TV. I’m too susceptible to feeling guilty about Daisy and her screentime.
I read about TV Speed Bumps at Childhood 101. Speed bumps are something engaging put in the path between child and TV. Our routine is for Daisy to watch TV as she wakes up. In the early days of Clementine, when Daisy was at her least secure point, it was a necessity. Now I’m hoping to break the habit.
It’s pretty funny to watch the speed bump work. Daisy actually skidded to a stop in front of the red table on which I had set out an art project. ”Oooh! Puffballs!” I can’t blame her; it is kind of hard to resist puffballs.
The project was a bit big for early morning art, but it was one I’d been meaning to do, so I decided to go for it. I had a cardboard rainbow I’d made for St. Patrick’s day. I set out the ‘stuff to glue’ tub (puff balls, dyed pasta, yarn bits, stickers, etc.) and a bottle of glue and that was it. Daisy sorted the objects by color and we glued them on one stripe at a time.
Another morning I set out Model Magic. It’s a medium I like because it’s soft enough for her to tackle on her own without me priming it, unlike clay. I also like that it dries easily so we can paint it later - a two part project with only one set up. This is the resulting work: a snake lying on a rock, eating a bowl of food.
Another speed bump I set up was pretty open ended. I set out the ‘stuff to glue’ tub and some paint. After some painting and some gluing, the project became making purple. We never seem to have purple paint in the house so we always have to make it from blue and red. This activity was a lot of fun. Daisy took the two colors and mixed them on a plate. Then she’d add more red to make a red-y purple and then more blue to make a blue-y purple. I showed her how to lighten it with a bit of white. After we made the perfect purple on the plate, Daisy added a splash of green and two puffballs and declared it done.
Not all speed bumps require a mess. One morning I set out a puzzle. It didn’t get the skid-to-a-stop reaction, but it still worked (and made the math teacher in me happy).
This morning, though, I got too big for my britches. I set out colored glue and paper plates. On a school morning, nonetheless. It was going beautifully. Daisy loved the swirls of color. I added a very large piece of paper which encouraged her to string the glue out more rather than making puddles. Daisy asked if she could do handprints, and I said ‘no’ explaining that it was glue and would take a bit longer to clean up and we had to leave for school soon. Then I went to get myself and Clementine dressed.
I don’t know what I was thinking, knowing Daisy just cannot resist dunking herself in some paint given any opportunity. I came out of the room and caught her red-handed. Literally. Both hands were drenched in red glue. I have to admit they looked awesome - so shiny and drippy and red, but I can only admit that in retrospect. I wascross. Very very cross. Daisy howled as I made her wash her beautiful red hands. Little drips of red leading to the sink looked like a evidence at a murder scene. I told my sad little wailing girl that she had to clean up the floor. Luckily, cleaning is one of her favorite things, so that cheered her up. She only got the kitchen floor, so I showed her the rest of the trail. We pretended she was a detective hunting for red spots, which entertained me since it did look like the scene of a crime. It was the happiest clean up yet.
I am so tempted to end the post here because it makes me seem like one of those great blog moms who turns every waking moment into something creative or educational. But you already know that she watches TV, which tips you off that I’m a real mom rather than a super-bloggy-mom. The morning ended in more tears. This time because a mermaid had been left out in the rain, which around here means she had pollen stuck in her bee-yoo-tee-ful pink hair. I told Daisy not to shake it out because I was making her cream cheese-and-toast right next to the mermaid. Needless to say, that direction was ignored and breakfast was now pollen-and-cream-cheese-and-toast. More tears.
I usually have more patience with knowing that what I think is important (allergen free breakfast) and what Daisy thinks is important (a properly coiffed mermaid) are actually equally important. Her little appropriately ego-centric self really cannot see my perspective on this because her perspective is so urgent to her. But I’d had no sleep all week, the baby was crying, and even the mermaid ended up getting yelled at for messing up breakfast.
So, the moral of the story is, speed bumps freaking rock, but don’t get too cocky with them. Tomorrow’s speed bump: a puzzle.
Posted by edumacate
1 note
Comments
#crafts
Posted by edumacate
524 notes
Comments
Oh how I love, I love, I love teaching the Fairy Village Class at Treehouse Kid + Craft (my favorite store in the world). How cute are these fairies? I love how much work the girls put into the houses. I love how innovative Miss V., the oldest of the children, was with her house. I love that the girls, ages 5 - 12, had all the same materials and yet each created a house entirely their own. I love looking at the fairies perched on top of their houses. I love that Miss P. woke up the next day and made a patio for her fairy’s house. I love love love fairy class.
Posted by edumacate
20 notes
Comments
ROAD TRIPS
I love how many cool little destinations are less than a couple of hours from Athens. It’s a big enough trip for the girls to really feel like they went somewhere special, but close enough for the ride to be relatively melt-down free.
Our big spring break trip was a day trip to Dahlonega. The highlight - panning for gemstones. Panning for gold takes more patience than the 6 and under set has. Hell, it takes more than I have. Gems, however, are perfect. Bucket, sand, shovel, water, and gems - all the elements that go into a favorite Daisy activity, all in one place.
We also hit the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve. It was hot and the girls were tired, so we didn’t get too far. We did see an emu (which I fell in love with), miniature horses, a sad bear, a growly lion, monkeys, chickens, ducks, and - get ready - a zedonk! Part zebra. Part donkey. All cute.
Posted by edumacate
Comments
Anatomy class would be a lot more delicious if it looked like this. Mmm, anatomy.
The Anatomy of a Cupcake by Allen Hemberger and Sarah Wilson
This, I love.
