This was one of those fun unplanned projects that go a long way toward filling up the tanks of your local ballerinas. We are working on scissor skills, so I let her lay into a catalog with some and Elmer’s glue it like there was no tomorrow! The end result was pretty wacked out of scale but still fun. Daphne assisted by cutting bitlets of paper and dumping about a tablespoon of glue onto them while saying things like “that’s probly enough, huh?” It was. The above picture was taken before she cut the toes off of her tights.
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I’ve got an empty box of Huggies just like that in Athan’s closet right now. I think I’ll surprise the girls tomorrow morning by bringing it out and letting them go to town on it. Morgan (9 1/2) is very artistic and talented in many ways. I’ll show her your pictures and tell her to think of what she wants to do with it.
I want to tell you how much I really admire all these neat things you think of doing or letting your kids do. I wasn’t raised like that at all so I feel very fun-challenged. I think I’ve grown in this area over the last year but I have a LONG ways to go.
Oh what a familiar scene! Similarly, my three youngest girls adore cutting up scenes from the home catalogs we receive and creating houses. They paste the furniture into “rooms” of construction paper, creating fanciful mansions. We have had dog houses and doll houses and houses for the masses from various size boxes that come through the real house… no cardboard escapes examination from their eyes! Scissors and paste go a long way, but indeed, watch out for the tights toes!
Blessings!
What a great idea! I’m filing that away in the back of my brain for when I have girls… or even older boys, I guess that could make a cool castle, too!
I LOVE this! I think we’ll try this today. I’m always looking for something new for the kids to do on Wednesdays, or else they get pretty long. Thanks!
Very cute idea. I’m with Natalie, filing it away for the future. I don’t think my 1 and 2 yr old sons would make it very far with that.
Thanks for sharing Rachel.
Boys can enjoy the boxes too. Today our most recent Costco diapers and wipes boxes became a robot costume. Very thrilling for all involved. =)
Thanks Rachel! I pulled out and transformed a box that we got in the mail recently. Alice jammed it full of children which the mother it seems gave birth to all at once (according to Alice this is what she had asked God for). Anyway, the box is full of this happy family and their many possessions and Alice went on and on all the while about how much fun it was.
Another inspirational post! I saw this yesterday and like many other moms I’m sure, we whipped out an empty Pampers box and by the time daddy got home our 6 year old daughter had a “fancified” diaper house on display! Thanks for taking the time to share with us all.
perhaps femina should create a photo sharing site so we can share w/you what your creativity has inspired in all of us! I’m sure we’d see cycles: tons of fairy bags one week, fancified huggie boxes the next!
So while everybody else is oohing and aahing over the fancified box (which is, I agree, Quite The Thing), I just keep wondering, “How does one respond when one’s child does something like cut off the toes of her tights?” I’m not a parent, but haven’t completely given up hope yet, but when I come across a scenario like that one, I realize what a bewildering job mommying must be!
Thank you for voicing my thoughts Valerie!
And I DO have kids, but I often think that mine simply aren’t as “creative” as others. They don’t think to climb out of their cribs, or cut toes off tights, or flush things down toilets.
And, I also keep thinking- how did she not hurt her toes in the process? Oh wait- I just envisioned her stretching the tights out past her toes- OK, I get it. 🙂
Valerie, and Mrs. Young-
I do have the kids who flush things down toilets, climb out of cribs at an early age, decide to paint all by themselves, and all manner of other whatnot. And, to be totally honest, we like it! I often think that those are the things that brighten my day a lot. “You did what!?” – and then call Daddy to laugh about it (usually after discussing that if that ever happens again, there will be consequences) . Titus, at 10 months did a pull-up (albeit a short one) on the edge of the table trying to get my diet pepsi. SO, I think we are really only getting started with our troublemakers. As my husband says, he is our cloud the size of a man’s fist! The tights issue was no big deal – I was glad it wasn’t hair! She seemed pretty surprised that she had destroyed her ballerina tights too, so really nothing was necessary other than a reminder that scissors are for paper ONLY!
In other words, have a large heart about it! 😉
Ok, so I had some practical experience this afternoon about having a large heart when it comes to little ones. I was cooking dinner with my 20 month old on the bench next to me (there where all the spices and bottles of soy sauce and the like is kept) when I look over and see her pouring oil into the toaster… 🙂 I tried to be good about it, but tears nontheless ensued.
So we laughed about it and it’s all over now, but now I’m in a bit of a predicament…
Ahoy to all the ladies out there: how does one clean oil out of the bread toaster? I have visions of our next lot of toast burning the house down!
Oh, Franci, what a tale! I think I’d try dumping something in there that would absorb the oil. Flour, maybe? Shake it around, maybe let it sit for a while, repeat a time or two. I have no idea whether it would work, but that’s what I’d try. It seems to me that what didn’t come out would essentially bake into crumbs. Just don’t sue me if you try it and your house does indeed burn down!
Franci -that is hilarious! And also definitely falls into that category of what you never thought you needed to say was a “no no”. Heather just recently was making toast and they all smelled burning plastic. It turned out that Seamus had tucked a couple playmobile people in there! One of them was a little disfigured, but the other has gained fame and glory with the other children.
BTW, I’d start over with the toaster. But if you were going to try dumping something in, I’d make it cornmeal.
I think I am now asking for trouble by posting what I did above. Today my sweet 3yo daughter put coins down the bathroom sink drain. 🙂