Our geode Easter eggs were less than spectacular... we decided we need to try again... good learning about tenacity!
love,
Showing posts with label KIDS EXPRESS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KIDS EXPRESS. Show all posts
KIDS EXPRESS
Our geode Easter eggs were less than spectacular... we decided we need to try again... good learning about tenacity!
love,
KIDS EXPRESS
Today is another busy day, hosting a live chat about grief online and having 2 girls - 10 and 13 year old - coming to tonight to stay the weekend... so there is a lot to do to get ready...
BUT, part of getting ready is to share something we will be doing this weekend with YOU...
Here is one thing we will do this weekend:
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GEODE EASTER EGGS
See the instructions via the link.
We need to start early so they have time to dry. Also, we have never done it before so we will conduct a test and see the results. Luckily, these girls are old enough that if we make a mistake they can handle any disappointment. So, we will make a batch now, and perhaps another nearer to Easter.
Part of our conversation while making geode eggs will be about various states of change... these girls have had 2 aunts die of breast cancer in the last few years and their mother is currently in remission from cancer.
I will let you know our results both scientifically and in our conversation. I'll take some pic too.
And, we'll have an omelette for dinner!
Have a great weekend!
Love,
BUT, part of getting ready is to share something we will be doing this weekend with YOU...
Here is one thing we will do this weekend:
.jpg)
GEODE EASTER EGGS
See the instructions via the link.
We need to start early so they have time to dry. Also, we have never done it before so we will conduct a test and see the results. Luckily, these girls are old enough that if we make a mistake they can handle any disappointment. So, we will make a batch now, and perhaps another nearer to Easter.
Part of our conversation while making geode eggs will be about various states of change... these girls have had 2 aunts die of breast cancer in the last few years and their mother is currently in remission from cancer.
I will let you know our results both scientifically and in our conversation. I'll take some pic too.
And, we'll have an omelette for dinner!
Have a great weekend!
Love,
KIDS EXPRESS
The Talking Stick is a tool used in many First Peoples Traditions when a council is called. When a council member holds a Talking Stick, it is believed that their words convey their Sacred Point of View.
When a group is formed the Stick is passed from person to person as they speak and no one will speak unless they are holding the Stick. Everyone is to listen closely to the words being spoken, and when their turn comes, they receive the same courtesy. The idea is to allow everyone time to state their Sacred Point of View.
Sometimes getting kids to talk is tricky. I know - I am an introvert and I really needed lots of room to talk when I was younger. My chatty sibling usually left me with no room to voice my thoughts or feelings.
Things like this introduce a new vibe and can be seen as a fun social experiment, thus luring us introverts out of our quietness...
It is fun when you plan to have an outing, go camping, or some other change of venue to make and use a talking stick - around a campfire is particularly powerful. We were discussing summer camping plans today, which got me thinking of the talking stick.
Kids can really get into making a stick and it gives you opportunity to discuss the skill of listening and talking.
You will need:
A stick - nice, sturdy size
Ribbon or yarn
Paint - acrylic is good
Paintbrushes
Beads ( optional - I did not have any!)
Feathers
Scissors
Stuff to clean up with
Instructions:
Paint the top portion of your stick
Wrap yarn or ribbon around your stick, tying it at either end to secure in place.
Tie some feathers onto yarn or ribbon strands and tie to the stick around the top. Pretty simple - and a great stimulant for conversation!
Love,
When a group is formed the Stick is passed from person to person as they speak and no one will speak unless they are holding the Stick. Everyone is to listen closely to the words being spoken, and when their turn comes, they receive the same courtesy. The idea is to allow everyone time to state their Sacred Point of View.
Sometimes getting kids to talk is tricky. I know - I am an introvert and I really needed lots of room to talk when I was younger. My chatty sibling usually left me with no room to voice my thoughts or feelings.
Things like this introduce a new vibe and can be seen as a fun social experiment, thus luring us introverts out of our quietness...
It is fun when you plan to have an outing, go camping, or some other change of venue to make and use a talking stick - around a campfire is particularly powerful. We were discussing summer camping plans today, which got me thinking of the talking stick.
Kids can really get into making a stick and it gives you opportunity to discuss the skill of listening and talking.You will need:
A stick - nice, sturdy size
Ribbon or yarn
Paint - acrylic is good
Paintbrushes
Beads ( optional - I did not have any!)
Feathers
Scissors
Stuff to clean up with
Instructions:
Paint the top portion of your stick
Wrap yarn or ribbon around your stick, tying it at either end to secure in place.
Tie some feathers onto yarn or ribbon strands and tie to the stick around the top. Pretty simple - and a great stimulant for conversation!
Love,
KIDS EXPRESS
Sandpaper Art with Cast-Off Crayon Bits
The contrast of a grey of a rainy day and the brilliant orange of those California poppies is simply something we cannot resist around here. It makes you get on your mud boots and go tracking...
The terrain of the poppies is always the barren hard arid soil. The colors pop in the landscape, and though it feels dark and drizzly - there is this brilliant color that punches through. It is invigorating.
Some native wildflowers must wait years for the storms to make their seeds explode with life... and they were not there yesterday. They will not be there come autumn...
Nature and art. These are moments full of opportunity for reflection.
All we are doing is simply using traditional art techniques - but applying them to grief and loss in subtle ways for children to learn and grow (and us adults grow too, btw.)
This is a good project for rainy days, days you want your oven on to help warm the house a little. This one is good for older kids - even though "tweens" would reject crayons as a medium - this one is cool enough that they still will want to participate. And it takes a wee bit of patience while the piece bakes and cools - ideal for older kids. With younger wiggly ones, plan something to do during the waiting period.
Our art subject today is an ode to those poppies that we traipsed through in the rain. You can pick any topic that helps you talk about things that are broken and gritty that can become beautiful again...
You will need:
- old crayon shards and bits
- sheet of sandpaper - grittier is better
- an old cookie sheet that can be messed up
- oven set to 120 or warm
- your subject matter
Select a space to work that can get messy with crayons.
Draw a picture on the rough surface with leftover crayons. Be liberal with your application of the crayons, BUT remember that the wax will spread a little upon melting so leave some "room" around things for some spreading. While creating your art, I like to sneak in subtle conversation about how these cast-off bits of crayons that are broken and worn- that people might even throw away - and this gritty paper are going to become something beautiful by the heat. And that the poppies seem to emerge from nowhere in the heat and yet thrive in the rains that fall.
Once the sandpaper is all colored, place in the oven on an old cookie sheet that you do not care about at a low temp - we did 120. You will smell this as it bakes.
Once the pictures are melted on the sandpaper, take it out of the oven. I was surprised to see the printed numbers from the back of the sandpaper showing through - it lightened up as the piece cooled...
Let it dry for about 10 mins... and put on your wall with a little quake hold... here is the result. Cool enough for a squirrelly tween's bedroom wall to brighten it on a drizzly day...
Blessings...
The contrast of a grey of a rainy day and the brilliant orange of those California poppies is simply something we cannot resist around here. It makes you get on your mud boots and go tracking...
The terrain of the poppies is always the barren hard arid soil. The colors pop in the landscape, and though it feels dark and drizzly - there is this brilliant color that punches through. It is invigorating.
Some native wildflowers must wait years for the storms to make their seeds explode with life... and they were not there yesterday. They will not be there come autumn...
Nature and art. These are moments full of opportunity for reflection.
All we are doing is simply using traditional art techniques - but applying them to grief and loss in subtle ways for children to learn and grow (and us adults grow too, btw.)This is a good project for rainy days, days you want your oven on to help warm the house a little. This one is good for older kids - even though "tweens" would reject crayons as a medium - this one is cool enough that they still will want to participate. And it takes a wee bit of patience while the piece bakes and cools - ideal for older kids. With younger wiggly ones, plan something to do during the waiting period.
Our art subject today is an ode to those poppies that we traipsed through in the rain. You can pick any topic that helps you talk about things that are broken and gritty that can become beautiful again...
You will need:- old crayon shards and bits
- sheet of sandpaper - grittier is better
- an old cookie sheet that can be messed up
- oven set to 120 or warm
- your subject matter
Select a space to work that can get messy with crayons.
Draw a picture on the rough surface with leftover crayons. Be liberal with your application of the crayons, BUT remember that the wax will spread a little upon melting so leave some "room" around things for some spreading. While creating your art, I like to sneak in subtle conversation about how these cast-off bits of crayons that are broken and worn- that people might even throw away - and this gritty paper are going to become something beautiful by the heat. And that the poppies seem to emerge from nowhere in the heat and yet thrive in the rains that fall.
Once the sandpaper is all colored, place in the oven on an old cookie sheet that you do not care about at a low temp - we did 120. You will smell this as it bakes.Once the pictures are melted on the sandpaper, take it out of the oven. I was surprised to see the printed numbers from the back of the sandpaper showing through - it lightened up as the piece cooled...
Let it dry for about 10 mins... and put on your wall with a little quake hold... here is the result. Cool enough for a squirrelly tween's bedroom wall to brighten it on a drizzly day...
Blessings...
KIDS EXPRESS
"KIDS EXPRESS".
When kids lose someone close to them, the adults that love them can make a creative space to help them survive and thrive.
This blog sub-topic will include creative exercises and art ideas to help families process and remember.
Memory is a key building block for children as they grow into being fruitful adults. Our first blog post is about something REALLY EASY that you can make for - or with - your wiggly one to help them remember their special person and practice spacial memory.
A Memory Game (double entendre intended!)
This version of the typical childrens memory game is adapted to share memories of a special departed one. It was therapeutic for me to make, and while playing the kids rehearse memories as they refine their recall and spacial skills.
You will need:
- cardboard - large enough to make your template
- large sheet of printed paper - scrapbook card stock is great
- scissors
- pens
- stickers or other decorative items you would like to use (optional)
- cold laminate sheets (optional)
- your list of memories about the one you want to remember
First, create your template shape on cardboard. I chose a heart shape to reinforce that daddy loved them - you can pick any shape that you want. Cut your template out with scissors.
Using the template, trace onto your large piece of printed paper.
If your children are quite young, match up each pair with an exclusive print on the paper (our example is for a young one) to help them match the pairs easier. If they are older, make it harder by having all the pairs have the same printed paper.
Make at least 12 cut outs, so you will have 6 pairs. If you make an odd number of pairs (like 7 pairs) two can play and your game can have a "winner".
Cut out your shapes on the printed paper.
Flip your shapes over so that the printed sides are facing down. On the “blank” side, start organizing your pairs. You will need two shapes per pair. You will write words to make the pairs. It is up to you as to what they say.
Mine are focused on helping know and remember their daddy. I made 6 pairs.
My 6 phrases were:
Daddy played peek-a-boo with you.
Daddy read at bedtime to you.
Daddy liked to tickle you.
Daddy took you to the zoo.
Daddy liked to snuggle you.
Daddy liked to give your bath.
(Instead of phrases, you could also use different photos of the departed, printed in pairs and glued to the back of your shapes if you wanted a visual/non-verbal version of the game. Perhaps different pictures of the departed when they were interacting with the kid(s).)
Once you have written your phrases and decorated the pieces as you would like... you may cold laminate the shapes and trim the edges if you would like to have the game be sturdy.
TO PLAY THE GAME:
Set up your game on a clean flat surface. Ours was simply on the clean carpet. Make sure no wiggly one is peeking as you order out those pairs in a grid format! Place pieces word-side down on the surface. Mix them around as you put them down, you can "shuffle" them around when you are done too. Make a grid pattern...
Once the game is set up, tell your kids to try to find the matching pairs by turning over 2 shapes to see if they match. Read aloud together the phrases as your child turns them over, and ask if (s)he thinks they match. If they do not match, they turn them back over and try again.
At the end, all of the pairs will be face up with all the written messages showing:
Finishes with a wonderful visual set of memories for the wiggly one to see... and maybe a nice little conversation can occur too.
We will be posting materials like this again in the future.
Our love to you and your wiggly ones...
When kids lose someone close to them, the adults that love them can make a creative space to help them survive and thrive.
This blog sub-topic will include creative exercises and art ideas to help families process and remember.
Memory is a key building block for children as they grow into being fruitful adults. Our first blog post is about something REALLY EASY that you can make for - or with - your wiggly one to help them remember their special person and practice spacial memory.
A Memory Game (double entendre intended!)
This version of the typical childrens memory game is adapted to share memories of a special departed one. It was therapeutic for me to make, and while playing the kids rehearse memories as they refine their recall and spacial skills.
You will need:
- cardboard - large enough to make your template
- large sheet of printed paper - scrapbook card stock is great
- scissors
- pens
- stickers or other decorative items you would like to use (optional)
- cold laminate sheets (optional)
- your list of memories about the one you want to remember
First, create your template shape on cardboard. I chose a heart shape to reinforce that daddy loved them - you can pick any shape that you want. Cut your template out with scissors.
Using the template, trace onto your large piece of printed paper.
If your children are quite young, match up each pair with an exclusive print on the paper (our example is for a young one) to help them match the pairs easier. If they are older, make it harder by having all the pairs have the same printed paper.Make at least 12 cut outs, so you will have 6 pairs. If you make an odd number of pairs (like 7 pairs) two can play and your game can have a "winner".
Cut out your shapes on the printed paper.
Flip your shapes over so that the printed sides are facing down. On the “blank” side, start organizing your pairs. You will need two shapes per pair. You will write words to make the pairs. It is up to you as to what they say.
Mine are focused on helping know and remember their daddy. I made 6 pairs.My 6 phrases were:
Daddy played peek-a-boo with you.
Daddy read at bedtime to you.
Daddy liked to tickle you.
Daddy took you to the zoo.
Daddy liked to snuggle you.
Daddy liked to give your bath.
(Instead of phrases, you could also use different photos of the departed, printed in pairs and glued to the back of your shapes if you wanted a visual/non-verbal version of the game. Perhaps different pictures of the departed when they were interacting with the kid(s).)Once you have written your phrases and decorated the pieces as you would like... you may cold laminate the shapes and trim the edges if you would like to have the game be sturdy.
TO PLAY THE GAME:
Set up your game on a clean flat surface. Ours was simply on the clean carpet. Make sure no wiggly one is peeking as you order out those pairs in a grid format! Place pieces word-side down on the surface. Mix them around as you put them down, you can "shuffle" them around when you are done too. Make a grid pattern...Once the game is set up, tell your kids to try to find the matching pairs by turning over 2 shapes to see if they match. Read aloud together the phrases as your child turns them over, and ask if (s)he thinks they match. If they do not match, they turn them back over and try again.
At the end, all of the pairs will be face up with all the written messages showing:
Finishes with a wonderful visual set of memories for the wiggly one to see... and maybe a nice little conversation can occur too.We will be posting materials like this again in the future.
Our love to you and your wiggly ones...
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