Week 2, Day 3

In the past 10+ years of working with children, I have generally believed in a "it's about the process, not the final product" approach when it comes to artwork. This school of thought goes out the window when it comes to such things as Christmas and Mother's Day Gifts. Sorry Dads, by the time we get to June, you're lucky if there are any paint and pom poms left. There are also some rare occasions when I completely contradict myself and strive for the children to go home with something that almost looks like the example on Pinterest.

This morning was one of those mornings that I needed to intervene a bit more than usual. The girls had already collected and pressed their flowers on Monday. While they were busy playing "family" (pretend play), I cut 4 "O" shapes from cardstock and carefully stuck them to contact paper, which is a clear adhesive used for laminating artwork. In my past experiences with children and contact paper, I have always had at least one child end up with contact paper somehow stuck to their hair. It is very sticky stuff.

I knew that even thought it took me a half hour to prepare the activity, it would only take the girls less than 3 minutes to work on it, but it was worth it. The sun-catchers turned out beautifully.

After a drastic temperature dip last night, it was finally warming up again so we headed outside for a bit before lunch. I challenged the girls to invent, draw, and name their own flower that we would later sculpt with bake-able modelling clay. Z called her flower a "Nayna", H called her flower a "Blue Stem", A called hers a "Starflower" and L was indecisive about a name. She drew lots of flowers though. I told her that she had plenty of time to think of a name.

After lunch, we got out the clay and spent the afternoon sculpting. The girls made many different objects, including their new species of flowers.  I also participated in this activity.

As per usual, we headed back outside in the afternoon. Our last activity was to make some butterfly feeders. I got the idea from
http://www.hometrainingtools.com/a/butterfly-feeder-project

We used some pineapple juice and banana slices on a sour cream container lid. We decorated with brightly coloured tape, pom poms, and a flower. No sightings yet.