Potato stamping eggs

Little Miss got an idea in her head to do potato stamping. I have no idea where she got this notion from, but she has developed a keen interest in potatoes. She wants to grow some and make potato people too. It's a pity she is not really interested in eating them. Unless they come crispy and salty in a foil packet.

Anyway potatoes are a lot like eggs, well their shape is sort of egg like when you cut them in half.  So we carved up some potatoes I cut in half, in readiness for potato stamping.

Little Miss used a pencil to poke prod and leave her mark.




















A sharp knife was my tool of choice. I tried to carve a decorated egg and a rabbit.




















Little Miss chose pink paint, no surprises there, and I got the red and white out too. Then it was just a matter of dipping then pressing.

The egg stamp worked out really nicely

The rabbit was not so successful

I also cut an onion in half and this was my favourite print making tool, though the smell wasn't so nice.

We could make some Easter cards to give to family with our prints, or maybe a mobile with ribbon or some more bunting for Easter decorations. Or we could just admire our stamping as it is. But I'm also thinking of cutting out an onion print sticking it onto a blank sheet and asking the kids to turn it into something. I'll let you know how we get on. If this post inspires some potato stamping remember to throw away the potatoes afterwards, they get a bit nasty on the nose if your daughter decides to keep them in a special place for a few days.

Let them eat cake

If there was ever a time to eat cake, it must be in your childhood.

Childhood is so short, those baby teeth will all fall out, and my children are always moving about and exercising. So I say let them eat cake, let them have the pleasure, and let them have the fun.

It wont be long before they learn the guilt and consequences that come with age and responsibility. I long to see cake as just cake, but now when I look at my middle I see the signs of cake gone before, cake loved and cake enjoyed. Cake comes with baggage. For a child though, baggage is something someone else carries.

Go forth little children and enjoy your cake.

Bunting

Lately I've been seeing a lot of bunting about. It's groovy stuff so I've been trying to think of a way to easily make some with the kids.

Autumn provided us with the inspiration. As Little Miss couldn't help but pick up some of these beautiful fallen leaves. I set up our creative space with the leaves, triangles cut from craft paper a few Easterish stamps and the stamping paint pad and ink pad.

Stamping leaf prints naturally followed.




















Then leaves in relief took on, as fingers applied paint around the edge of a leaf.

It was all getting a bit messy as finger printing happened too. But then B got other ideas. The craft paper colours were reminiscent of traffic lights so B went off on a stop, go, slow tangent. And some random red dots got involved too. Once each side to of every triangle was decorated and dry I stapled the triangles to some gift wrap ribbon then hung it up.

Hey presto - instant autumn traffic bunting. Just what we needed.

Activities with kids rarely turn out like you expect. See more examples at Childhood 101 and Playtime at Hands on: as we grow.

Capturing creativity

I love visual art, but art openings are usually pretty wanky affairs. Odd people stand around in odd arrangements trying look like they know what the hell the art is meant to be saying. Cheap wine flows as does the verbal diarrhoea.






















But I was pleasantly surprised by a recent art show I went to. Not only was the conversation more on my kind of level, but all the art work seemed to capture the essence of creativity. The energy in the work was astounding, there was no fear evident in any of the mark making. The use of colour was free and full of expression. The compositions broke all the rules and the stories within the work were spelt out.



Little Miss's kindy art show was a true visual feast.

Go your own way

As much as I may try to advise, suggest and sometimes even insist that my children do things a certain way, they do their best to ignore me.

And they have to. That is the way they learn. Unfortunatley I can't instill my own lessons or knowledge into them.

BUT I find watching my children make mistakes completely uncomfortable. I want to correct them and offer my answers to everything.

For example B has a fortnightly presentation to give at school. (It's what 'show and tell' has turned into.) This week his talk is about family. I find myself checking on him and his progress frequently. I offer suggestions and ideas to present his information in interesting ways. He makes a family tree and he writes down his spiel. When I see his writing I automatically correct his spelling errors. But then I pause.  B has spelt celebration - sellbration.  This is his work for his talk. He is going to be reading out these words in front of the class. B has to understand his own writing, my spelling correction will  only confuse him. So I leave it alone.

I am still learning too, my answers aren't always right for B and Little Miss.

Through this life you go your own way, and make your own mistakes.