Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Not as Planned

So I finally get the chance to watch my favorite nephews and decide to do some projects I've left in the back burner.

We tried our hand in homemade ice cream. The boys and my girls all clamored for a chance to shake the bag and then asked to stop. Too. Heavy. For. Them. Water dripped all over the place. I think I'm going with a coffee tin next time.


Then we went outside to rummage for rocks, sticks, leaves, and other objects to put in our clay creation. I noticed there were not many natural smooth rocks outside. Rather, there were big and small slabs of concrete. Mental note: Must take my kids to a place with real rocks.




We rushed home with our nature finds and got our hands on the clay. I don't know how non-toxic Crayola's non-toxic clay is, but it's probably safer than Sculpey which has phthalates. It feels much better than play dough. I could understand why Susan Striker insisted in her book, Young at Art that every 3 year old should experience clay. All the kids did different things with their clay and natural instruments. They poked holes, pressed rocks and leaves, and smooshed them in different directions. I enjoyed making impressions with Magnolia leaves. But I made them too thin. The directions said to make thicker pieces so they will not break as easily. Oh well. Their creations needed to air dry for a day before painting. We'll save that for their next visit

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