Now that summer is starting to wrap up we are definitely spending more time at home again, and that means all too often the TV is being switched on first thing in the morning and kinda not (read: not) going off until we leave the house. To top it off my little people seem adamant on watching different programmes and therefore watch TV separately. Yep, we only have two TVs in our house and it turns out the boys are making good use of them.

Now I'm all for TV having it's place in a family home. How else are we meant to cook dinner? Or have fresh, clean clothes to wear? Or just get five minutes of peace with a hot cuppa? TV, I freaking love you. You save my butt daily. That said though two kids programmes running simultaneously, both totally annoying in their own right is just a step too far. So after a rather dramatic, 'Right, that's it, TVs off!!!!'. I had two little faces looking up at me with, 'NOW WHAT?' written all over them. Hmmmm time to not panic. Oh it's one thing being all high and mighty and switching the TV off, but it's quite another thing to actually have a back up plan. Which at that very second I didn't.


I don't know about you but the mere phrase, 'Kids crafts' gives me an internal shudder. Images of paint splattered all over furniture and clothes with very little on the page itself, play dough that is played with for all of seconds yet you'll be picking it out of your couch for the next fortnight, spring to mind. Lets not even talk about glitter. Now this is all worth it if this keeps them entertained but otherwise it just becomes one big tidy up task whilst muttering to yourself that you don't know why you bother. Personally I think we get ahead of ourselves when it comes to crafts and forget that it doesn't matter how interesting or exciting we make it, a four and a two year old are only going to remain attentive for a certain amount of time. Which to us grown ups is no time at all.

So with no fancy crafts up my sleeve that day. I pulled out paper and crayons. I've noticed with Caleb if you just give him free reign with crayons initially he just draws scribbles, and would go through a few thousands sheets doing just that, but if you ask him to draw something specific with a visual aid he's a wonderful little drawer. After that point he then starts to draw other items from memory.


With that in mind we headed out in the garden to pick flowers we could then draw. We talked colours, counted petals, talked about our favourites and why. I intended to draw with them too but I found myself just sat watching them both. Colouring away, sharing crayons. A simple task had turned into such a lovely learning experience. Archie saying new words and learning his colours. Caleb working on his pronunciation and vocabulary. 


Such a simple task became such an enjoyable one, and kept us all busy for the best part of an hour. Which in toddler time may as well be two weeks. Result!!

I would love to hear any activities you swear by at home. Anything that will keep Paw Patrol and Thomas the Tank Engine from simultaneously ringing in my ears is good with me!

I'm looking to recreate this nature/drawing task once a week. I'm thinking with Autumn around the corner there's going to be lots of fun stuff to gather and draw. It will be pretty cool if we can document all the different colours of the leaves as they gradually change.


4 comments

  1. I'm sure you could do that press thing with flowers and leaves and then it kinda preserves it to which you could make into other little things like bookmarks, you get the idea. In the same boat with craft blanks. I think I came past an idea the other day using coffee filters you cut into leaf shapes and then use water color paints to paint them Fall like colors?

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    1. Oh I hadn't thought about pressing them. I remember doing that as a child and being excited checking on their progress. Thanks so much for sharing your ideas. Perfect for the long winter ahead ;) xx

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  2. Hm, non-messy crafts for that age range can be complicated... what about leaf (& other) rubbings? (You know, when you lightly color a piece of paper on top of the leaf.) On the other hand you could do prints - like using foliage or pieces of fruit and what have you, dipping them in paint to transfer over to paper to make pictures. You could also have them make "mandalas" out of flower petals, etc.... that would be highly amusing to see what a 2 & 4 year old's version of a mandala would look like. You could have them glue nature collages or paint rocks... searching Waldorf preschool craft ideas would be a decent idea, too.

    Best, Karen from Life in its Natural State

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  3. Ok, seriously? This is the sweetest and most genius thing! I love it so much! I'm always trying to think of things to entertain Co away from his Paw Patrol requests. I'll have to try this!

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