The Art Box – Oct. 11, 2010

In the Art Box last week: lots of colored paper, watercolor paper (in the back with a paperclip on it), watercolor paints, watercolor pencils, markers, glue, glitter glue, scissors, a small container with little goodies in it for collaging (lower left), a pinecone, stickers, and cardboard ribbon spools.

I’ve been trying to find a good way to keep M’s art supplies organized, and found this little utensil carousel at Target.  It’s great for markers, pencils, scissors, glue, etc.  But, the picture looks a little crowded, doesn’t it?  Maybe next week I’ll set everything out all nice and pretty before I take the picture.  Didn’t you know I have all the time in the world to do things like that? ;)  Okay, maybe not.  We’ll see. ;)

Despite the plethora of good art supplies, not much art was done.  We’ve had a run of summer-like days this fall (I guess to make up for the fall-like days we had in summer), and much of our time was spent outside.  Some beautiful items did make their way into nature collages, but those are for a post later this week.

However, despite the beautiful weather, M can’t resist anything sparkly.  Once he saw the glitter glue and some sparkly bug stickers he had to take time out from his outdoor play to put a couple of things together. 

A glitter glue, sticker collage: 

And whatever this is, with glitter foam pieces (more sparkles!):

That was it.  Just some quick bling and then back to jumping in the leaves.

I did find time to put up some art strings in our home.  Here’s one:

We’ve got 4 of them up in a variety of places – stairwell, family room, bedroom.  My (unspoken to M) hope is that I can s l o w l y start taking down a few pieces of art that he’s just randomly taped on the walls and move them onto the art strings, and eventually only have M’s art on the strings except for a few very special things that we’ll leave in the kitchen, perhaps in frames.  That’s the plan, anyway.

If you have a kid's art post, link it up below! Be sure to link back here somewhere in your post.

Have a beautiful day! :)

What We’ve Been Reading – Oct. 9, 2010

The Brambly Hedge Series by Jill Barklem

I’ve missed writing these posts!  Summer was just too busy and I took a break from all the memes I normally participate in.  We’ve read so many great books that I almost don’t know where to begin.  

Early in the summer I began reading longer books to M as we ate lunch.  He loves books and his attention span for a good story has always been amazing.  Amazing, as in totally flooring me when he would sit still (this is a boy who never sits still) for a long Dr. Seuss book when he was 11 months old.  There were two of them actually – Are You My Mother? and To Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street (which is a pretty long book!).  A good book has always been worth sitting for with him, something I’m very thankful for!  It seemed like those months between 1 and 2 1/2 years were nothing more than a succession of him toddling over to me with yet another book in his hand.  :) 

Okay.  Enough bragging. (sorry!)

I want M to begin learning to visualize stories in his mind without needing to see the illustrations, and the Brambly Hedge books by Jill Barklem are perfect for that.  They do have beautiful illustrations, and I lshow them to M after reading the story to him. 

Honestly, some of these books aren’t all that long (although some are), but they are each full of suspense and magic.  I mean “magical” in the sense of a young child’s view of the idea of small mice who live in a little village and have homes like we have, only in miniature; and who have work to do; and who, best of all, go on wonderful adventures. 

The nice thing about these books is that there is almost always a suspenseful moment, and it’s then that I close the book and leave M wanting more.  ;)  We normally take 2 days for each book. 

Hands down, his favorite of the series has been The Secret Staircase.  The two main characters are 2 mouse children – Primrose and Wilfred.  It is midwinter and the village is preparing for its annual winter festival.  As Primrose and Wilfred rehearse a poem they plan to recite, they go searching through the attcs of the Old Oak Palace (the home of Lord Woodmouse), for costumes.  Primrose finds a key, Wilfred finds an old door behind a curtain, and together they find an old staircase leading up into the tip top branches of the oak tree.  The climb the staircase and… you have to read it to your child to see what they find. ;)

This book sparked M’s imagination like no other book has done.  He spent weeks with a little key from a small piggy bank in his pocket.  At random times he’d grab my hand and whisper that he’d found a door.  We’ve gone all through our house, “discovering” old hidden rooms. :)

His other top favorites from this series are The High Hills and Sea Story .  I hope you check these great books out!

For more reviews of children’s books, check out Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

Have a beautiful day! :)