I have scribbles all over the inside of my church directory. They are from when Ella was barely old enough to hold a pencil and she would color while I wrote out my weekly nursery reminder cards. This love for arts and crafts just seems to have grown every day. She colors with markers, crayons, chalk, colored pencils... pretty much anything that makes some kind of mark. She dots with bingo dobbers. She finger paints. She rolls and sculpts play-dough. She puts stickers in books. She's fascinated by glitter and beads and google eyes. Lately she's been on a cutting (we do the cutting) and glueing kick. I found these foam shapes and they are awesome-- they have a sticky back and allow her to plop them where ever she wants on the page.
Now, I need some advice from my fellow moms. What do you do with all these art projects? Ella is cranking them out-- several a day-- and I just can't bear to throw them away. Especially when they come with, "I made this one for you, Mommy!" Her masterpieces have taken over my fridge and bullitan boards!
And here's a fun link to the Design Mom blog that my sisters-in-law and friend Amy like so much. If you scroll down a bit, you can read some neat craft suggestions:
3 comments:
She is so talented! Well, Jen - this is just the beginning. Wait until daily school projects come home, weekly Sunday school and Children's church literature, as well as stuff created over leisure time! I am excited to read what others write, but here is what we do in our household: We have magnet boards and wall clips that can display a fair amount of artwork. Once they are taken down from that area, I have a box for each age and I put the best pieces and the total "keepers" in that. All others get secretly recycled (this must be done VERY discreetly, as there is nothing more disappointing to a child than to see their "masterpiece" laying on top of the garbage can."
* Ella can always pass some of them along to her cousins, too!
love, auntie karen
Hi Jen,
How fun! Have you thought of taking a picture of Ella next to a bunch of her works of art before they have to...um...disappear? Then you could print out the pictures for her and put them into a little album (Target or dollar-store type) for her to look at and enjoy. Or, she could see the pictures on the computer. She'd know how much you love her art but it wouldn't have to fill boxes and boxes. :) You could still keep the "keepers" like Karen said!
Hi Jen,
It's so fun to see Ella create and I'm so proud of you for nurturing it. I know my niece is quite the artist as well - she's 8 now! As you can imagine, my sis has a boatload of artwork.
A few ideas:
-Frame special pieces for gifts to family and friends or for wall art in her room.
-Have a little art auction (my friend did this) to raise pennies for the cause of Ella's choice.
-Make certain pieces with different textures or looks into a large collage.
We are just beginning this stage with Meilani. I just bought those sticky foam hearts for our Valentine's Day art projects.
Love ya,
D
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