Iveyrock

I have been longing for Fall this year. I realized that I usually make it back home to Ohio around this time, and I won’t be going this year. That, with the drought and hot weather here has had me wishing for a true Fall – lots of colored leaves, cool weather, even the rain.

And, just in time, yesterday Fall came to Texas. It rained all day, it was cool – the air even had a bit of a bite to it.

My kids picked out long sleeves to wear today. Everything is saying Fall…

… just in time for our family vacation to the beach.

I have mentioned several times that art projects are a priority to me. I thought about writing out why they are such a high priority, and then decided that it was pretty self-explanatory. I don’t think anyone is going to argue that art is not good for children.

But as I was looking at our new kitchen set-up, I started thinking again about why this is a priority; so much so that I am willing to rearrange my kitchen to facilitate it. I really don’t intend for my children to grow up to be artists, and I am not really doing it as an “educational” thing (although I am always fascinated to see how much they do learn). Since this blog is a place to unclutter my brain, I decided to go ahead and talk about this after all.

So then, why projects are so important to me.

The first, and most obvious reason, is that we enjoy them. The kids love to create, and I love to watch them. Or better yet, jump right in and work on my own projects alongside them. Our art supply stash and time spent on creating things has grown as I’ve seen my children continue to choose to spend their time this way. I want our days to flow as smoothly as possible, so as they show me it’s a priority for them, I think about ways to facilitate.

Another reason is that while I don’t do it to “teach” them anything – we are not doing crafts or themes, and I am not involved in their work most of the time – I do want to expose them to things. I want them to know that they can use so many different supplies to get different results. I want them to discover how to make choices and plan their creations. I want them to see that they can be creative, and they are only limited by their own minds (and mommy’s tolerance for mess…)

I also want them to learn that they can express themselves through creating. That they can communicate their feelings and ideas to others, or even just for themselves. It can be empowering, and it can be cathartic. Today was very hectic day, and Ian was getting overwhelmed. He got out the paints, and I watched him visibly relax and refocus. The process of putting his ideas onto the paper, as well as the concentration to control the brush the way he wanted, was exactly what he needed in that moment.

Along those lines, these kinds of projects fill very real, physical needs for my kids. They need sensory play, and squishing paint or playdough gives them that.

And finally, to be quite blunt, it’s a way to pass the time. We started doing more art projects when I was pregnant with Micah, and the older two needed something to do. We don’t watch TV (unless someone is sick), and we don’t have very many scheduled activities. I plan our lives that way on purpose, and in turn we find ways to fill up our time.

My calendar holder.

I’m not even sure why I love it so much, but it makes me happy everytime I see it.

This was fun. We have plenty of broken crayons around here, and this was an obvious way to use them.

Ian really wanted to use the pencil sharpen to get shavings, while Chava was content to use broken crayon pieces. A little way into the process I got smart and moved us outside, since there were little crayon bits all over. They did Dust-bust right up, so it wasn’t a big problem, really.

I was a little more actively involved in this project than I usually am. I was the main crayon-breaker, and I talked to them a little about filling the trays up all the way, so the crayons were big enough to play with.

I was impressed by how intentional Chava was about her color choices. She had very specific ideas about which crayons should go together. When she wandered away for a minute, I admit that I tried to add some crayons to her tray. She took one look at her tray and said “So. These do not go here.” And moved every crayon that I had put in.

Ian eventually gave up on the sharpening, and switched to broken pieces as well. I wouldn’t recommend the sharpening approach, it was taking a really long time. We filled the molds up pretty full, and I was hoping that the crayons would melt down in, instead of making a crayon river in the oven. I did stand some of the bits up on their ends before putting them in the oven, to help them melt into the space, instead of onto the tray.

I had just baked, so the oven was on 350. I went and nursed Micah, and the crayons were in for about ten minutes, maybe less. There is a wee little chance that I melted the trays a bit…

We let them cool over night, and popped them out from beneath.

It actually turned out really well. The kids experimented with the different ways of holding the crayons, and drawing with the points or the flat parts. I really love the colors they came up with, and how bright they are on the paper. I wasn’t sure the kids would actually use them, but they have been coloring with them the last couple of days.

After a summer of drought, we’ve had a string of rainy days. Yesterday Ian asked his Grandma Jayne for rainy day ideas. She suggested puppets.

Before I even hung up the phone, he was off and running.

He worked until he ran out of popsicle sticks, and then spent some time putting on a puppet show for his brother (who was enthralled).

As I mentioned in a previous post, we have been outgrowing our art supply set-up. A couple of weeks ago we re-did that part of the kitchen, to allow the kids a better place to work and more access to their supplies.

The whole process was really emotional for me, more so than I expected. I have so loved my bookshelf in the kitchen, loved our method of using art supplies, and absolutely loved the times the kids spent creating there. Part of the weekend was spent grieving that a little bit, and part was spent worrying that I was going to irrevocably mess up the creative process.

A lot of time was spent actually changing things around. There were some specific things I wanted to make a space for, as well as allowing the kids direct access to the supplies. We shortened our old table, and put it under the window. We got a new table, which we are going to need very soon, as Micah is ready to join us in a high chair. We added a shelf to the bookshelf, and completely rearranged it’s contents. We raised the chandelier, since even I was hitting my head on it. We put up a calendar holder on the wall. We updated the art wall, and added a third line.

So far, it’s working out even better than I had hoped. The idea is to add more supplies to the bookshelf, as they get used to the parameters of having things open to them. I wanted things to be easy to see and easy to grab, especially since most of the containers are glass. There is a lot of room to add more, and we can eventually use the window and the table to hold supplies too, if needed.

The kids are using it exactly like I’d hoped. They are only getting out what they want to use, and are coming up with more combinations and ways to use the supplies every day. It is great to have the flexibility of leaving projects on the table, instead of cleaning up for every meal. It’s easy to clean up, and the table itself can get a little messier, now that it isn’t the main dining room table. I still resist change, but I have to admit it seems to be working so far.

“What IS this thing that you have given me?”

“You guys do know I have this, right…?”

“It squishes!”

yarn.

Especially the color combinations I didn’t intend, that catch me off-guard and brighten my whole day.