The Basket

    I have a hard time finding things for the kids to do before dinner. Basically, I suck at keeping the kids engaged right after school, before daddy comes home. I always WANT to think of something cool and awesome for the kids to do, and usually my brain (the one that wakes up at 4 AM to go to work), well, it fails me. Even if I DO think of something awesome, we don't have the right supplies, or enough time... you get the idea.

    Today I had an idea, and I think that it's something I can stick to. I find a neat art project, science experiment, activity or recipe. I print out 5 every week. On grocery shopping day I collect supplies so we have them readily available. Then I fold up the slips of paper and put them in a basket. After school, when the kids have had snack and played a bit, they pull one piece of paper.

This is the basket in all of it's tacky-ass glory. I used puff-paint, okay? Shut up.

Today Avalon got to pull the mystery activity!

Beautiful birch trees! 

    The kids ripped strips of masking tape and stuck them to watercolor paper. We got to talk about negative space, and thought about how stark birch trees look in the Winter. Once the strips of tape were adhered to the paper, we used watery tempera paint and made a wash over the paper, creating a Wintery evening sky. Then we sprinkled large grain salt over the wash, which apparently creates the appearance feathery snowflakes as the paint dries. Tomorrow we will brush the salt off and see if it actually worked, which I doubt, because that stuff never works for me. Then we will remove the masking tape and paint the birch bark. To be continued.....

Beautiful Poppy, just because.

View from the back porch. Those are cranberry bogs. Whenever the sky takes on warmer tones in the morning, or evening, Avalon shouts with joy "Pink sky for ME!!!" It's one of my very favorite things on the planet.