Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Our 'Crafternoons'



While Grace has always loved art, in recent weeks, she has been especially eager to explore her crafty side and often busied herself making things.  She's excited at finally being allowed to use scissors to cut, has fun gluing and making collages and is desperate to use sticky tape at every opportunity.

We've been trying something new during the afternoons in our house lately which has filled in the late hours on wintery days nicely... we called it our 'Crafternoon Time'.  Firstly, Grace helps me wash and cut up some fruit for our afternoon tea and then we sit together at the kitchen table working side by side on crafty projects (if Sophie has woken early from her nap, she watches from her high chair whilst having afternoon tea or she crawls around playing on the floor next to us). My idea was that I would be spending quality time together with Grace teaching her new skills and also be able to work away alongside her on my own tasks, modelling skills for her at the same time and hopefully slowly completing a few projects of my own.

Yesterday, I set about working on making a colour matching game for Grace using paint sample cards. I'd initially seen the idea via Pinterest on the blog Crunchy and Green and had been meaning to try it out myself for some time. Our crafty time finally gave me the opportunity to do so.  Grace sat opposite me creating a collage picture, having fun mastering the art of sticky tape and getting messy with glue. 



In other crafty activities, last week, as part of us joining in with Claire's Bookworm Club for this month, I gave Grace a fish outline which she coloured in, decorated with polka dot stickers and glued sequins all over in an attempt to create her own version of the Rainbow Fish like the one in the book we had read.  Grace is also really into letters and numbers at the moment, often pointing out the letters of her name in books and on signs so I printed and cut out a few different sets of the letters of her name in varying fonts and her task was to glue the letters of her name back together again.

I'm hoping that as my girls get older, there will be plenty more opportunities like these 'crafternoon' sessions for me to share other hobbies and passions of mine with them both.  I love that fun-filled times like these are all part of being a Mum...  

16 comments:

  1. I adore the colour matching game I so want to play :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! It didn't take long to put together at all. I'm hoping to add it to a collection of 'busy bags' that I can grab on my way out the door to keep Grace busy when we're at cafes and so on...

      Delete
  2. You are so crafty! I can't wait to do stuff like this!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, fantastic blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?

    you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is wonderful,
    let alone the content!
    Take a look at my page sklepy internetowe poznań

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your crafternoon concept Amanda!! Those little activities are just lovely and how special to be able to create that time with your beautiful girl!
    I am trying to figure out a way to spend more one on one time with each twin but not having any luck so far!
    I love being creative with kids...i agree it is one of the best parts of being a Mum! Enjoy your crafternoons...thanks for sharing with us!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jode, all of the creative activities your gorgeous girls are always involved in really inspire me. I too find it hard to find one on one time, and even though Sophie is often still crawling around amongst us, I figured crafting together for 30 mins to an hour was a way we could do something fun in that time slot before I need to prepare tea... :)

      Delete
  5. i love your crafty afternoons! you can so tell that you're a teacher! grace must be having such a wonderful time at home with you...all those fun activities...i'm inspired!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the crafternoon idea! Just gorgeous, I have two craft obsessed boys so am always looking for inspiration! xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very cute colour matching game
    And the book club is something I keep meaning to join in on

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a lovely way to spend your afternoons with your gorgeous girls, creating beautiful things makes you feel good.x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great activities Amanda.... are you back teaching?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, still a full-time stay at home Mama :) Just thought I'd make a simple little activity for Grace to do...

      Delete
  10. Loving crafternoon, Amanda! Such a nifty name. I know Miss India would love it ☺. J x

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think Kaize would love that colour matching game..he is mad on colours at the moment and we recently completed a colour themed scrapbook that he drags everywhere we go :)
    x

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love the crafternoon idea...and the colour matching game. I can spot a fellow teacher a mile away x

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hі to all, how is all, I think еvery onе is getting mоre from
    this web page, аnd your views аre plеаsant in favor
    of new visitors.

    Lоok into my web site - best payday loans
    My website - best payday loans

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment - it really makes my day!!