Last week we hosted our second preschool class. Daddy taught this time!
Our theme wasn't quite as tight, but it still went over realy well!
We asked the kids to each bring a dry food good for a small food drive. I tried talking to Colin about sharing food and hunger before class but it's hard to say if he got any of it. You never know, so it's never too early to start talking about principles that are important to your family!
When the kids arrived we had our snack and dove into circle time.
Gavin did awesome. He worked hard to engage the kids and keep things upbeat and fun. In circle time, we talked about the wather and Gavin read "Don't Spill the Milk".
After circle itme, we headed to the kitchen for some 'cooking' practice, complete with hats!
We mixed salt, flour, and water to make salt dough!
Afterwards, we made a few handprints, more on that in a later post!
Our next activity was cheerio treading. We threaded fruit loops onto a pipe cleaner. Some of the kids really got into this activity. Colin not so much. He ate a handful of fruit loops, put one on his pipe cleaner and was pretty much done.
Someone else thought it was a candy necklace!
It was so fun watching the kids focus on an activity so carefuly!
We ended with some walking/jumping/crawling and closing circle time. The kids seemed to have a great time and hopefully they all learned a little something too.
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Friday, December 12, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Arts & Crafts
There are two things that I worry that Colin misses out on not being in any type of school or day care: daily interactions with other kids his age and arts and crafts.
Before Colin woke up I got everything ready and taped it to his table.
He seemed to like it! He pushed the paint around for about 5 minutes before insisting it was time to take it 'off'. I suggested we leave it, but my child is very determined and once he decided it was coming off, it was coming off. I quickly double taped the top down to (hopefully) avoid a mess. As he picked it up, I saw the light come through it and came up with another idea...
I taped it to the window!
This was a huge hit! It looked a lot cooler with sunlight behind it than the table and we practiced drawing letters and shapes. Colin even pulled a chair up and watched as I drew every letter in the alphabet! (The picture doesn't really catch it, but it did look really cool)
We try to make sure he gets interactions with other kids, both in the form of story time and in play dates. Arts and crafts are harder. I love crafts. The problem is that setting up an art activity for a toddler takes about 10 times as much time as they actually spend doing it. And in the past, Colin hasn't shown much interest in the things I have tried to do with him.
Still, with Alex's arrival, we thought we should step up Colin's planned activities throughout the day to help ward off his minor tantrums, so I went to google for help.
Colin had a meltdown last time daddy tried painting with him (he doesn't really like getting his hands dirty) so I found a painting activity that didn't involve messy hands!
Before Colin woke up I got everything ready and taped it to his table.
He seemed to like it! He pushed the paint around for about 5 minutes before insisting it was time to take it 'off'. I suggested we leave it, but my child is very determined and once he decided it was coming off, it was coming off. I quickly double taped the top down to (hopefully) avoid a mess. As he picked it up, I saw the light come through it and came up with another idea...
I taped it to the window!
This was a huge hit! It looked a lot cooler with sunlight behind it than the table and we practiced drawing letters and shapes. Colin even pulled a chair up and watched as I drew every letter in the alphabet! (The picture doesn't really catch it, but it did look really cool)
Moving it to the window earned me at least another 15 minutes of play. And after breakfast this morning, Colin wanted to play again with daddy!
I was prety proud of myself. A successful art project! I think the biggest secret to success is to be willing to be flexible (easier when the paint is contained in a bag). More art to come! (probably).
Sunday, April 13, 2014
You're a bright little fish and I love you.
Colin's nightly lullaby is still "Bright Bug". I painted him a picture of a bright bug that hangs over his crib (and accurately fits all of the descriptions from the song!)
When we started putting together Nursery 2.0, I thought it would be super cute to do a 'Bright Fish' painting.
I'm not a great painter, but I drew out my best idea of what a 'bright fish' would look like:
I then used some of the samples we had bought for the walls and got to work painting! I'm so happy with how the painting came out. Gavin told me pilot fish are supposed to be mean and have big teeth. Luckily, bright fish are not. :)
I love my bright aquatic bug, already and can't wait to meet him!
When we started putting together Nursery 2.0, I thought it would be super cute to do a 'Bright Fish' painting.
I'm not a great painter, but I drew out my best idea of what a 'bright fish' would look like:
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| First Draft |
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| Canvas Sketch |
I then used some of the samples we had bought for the walls and got to work painting! I'm so happy with how the painting came out. Gavin told me pilot fish are supposed to be mean and have big teeth. Luckily, bright fish are not. :)
- Bright Bug? Check
- Orange and Green? Check
- Belly Does Glow? Check
I love my bright aquatic bug, already and can't wait to meet him!
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Colin's first Trip to LA and first Museum!
Dr Lisa and Chris invited us up to Malibu for a dinner party. Gavin and I were a little hesitant to brave LA traffic on a Friday night, so we decided to break the trip up by spending the day at the Getty Museum.
I didn't know anything about the Getty other than that it was an art museum on the way to Dr. Lisa's house. I was pleasantly surprised to find out admission is free (parking is $15.00).
Unfortuantly it's been raining for the last few days, so we weren't able to explore the gardens and patios, but the Getty was amazing! Despite my art classes, I'm not expert in art, painting or otherwise. Still, we had a fantastic time wandering through the exhibits and just looking. I could spend several days (probably not in a row) looking at everything and I'm sure someone with more knowledge and interest could spend significantly longer. There were a few paintings that really stood out to me.
And
I didn't know anything about the Getty other than that it was an art museum on the way to Dr. Lisa's house. I was pleasantly surprised to find out admission is free (parking is $15.00).
Unfortuantly it's been raining for the last few days, so we weren't able to explore the gardens and patios, but the Getty was amazing! Despite my art classes, I'm not expert in art, painting or otherwise. Still, we had a fantastic time wandering through the exhibits and just looking. I could spend several days (probably not in a row) looking at everything and I'm sure someone with more knowledge and interest could spend significantly longer. There were a few paintings that really stood out to me.
And
I can't really tell you why, and I'm sure my thoughts would only further prove my lack of knowledge, so I'll omit them. I did share them with Colin, but don't worry, I figure his early introduction to art by our trip will outweigh any negative affect of my art ramblings!
| Daddy on the Tram |
| Mommy and Colin in the Rain |
| Stairs: A challenge like never before... |
We had a lovely time.
Afterwards, we went to Lisa and Chris' for dinner. We had a wonderful dinner, although I neglected to take any photos. We are still getting used to being out and about with Colin and he occupies most of our time and energy during any outing. He was very well behaved and quite popular, as always!
Monday, February 27, 2012
Hyperbole and a Half
So I've decided several things:
I should support artists/creators/etc who provide me with entertainment more.
I should write about the above mentioned so others can check it out as well.
I was having a rough day, so I decided to refind an old favorite blog of mine: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/
There was only one new post, about depression. As usual, it was extremely entertaining, but the lack of further posts made me a little worried. I'm hoping Allie is okay and just hiding out somewhere, but I drew a picture for her. And bought a mug from her site so I can be inspired every day
I should support artists/creators/etc who provide me with entertainment more.
I should write about the above mentioned so others can check it out as well.
I was having a rough day, so I decided to refind an old favorite blog of mine: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/
There was only one new post, about depression. As usual, it was extremely entertaining, but the lack of further posts made me a little worried. I'm hoping Allie is okay and just hiding out somewhere, but I drew a picture for her. And bought a mug from her site so I can be inspired every day
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
We do Art!
Alyssa is one of the coolest people I know. How many friends do you have who call you and say "Lets watch one your favorite movie and do crafts!"? Especially when the movie in question happens to be Hocus Pocus, the 1993 Disney Halloween flick.
She provided the movie, I provided the crafts. As usually she provided 80 percent of the actual talent, but I'm actually pretty proud of how this guy came out!
We do art!
She provided the movie, I provided the crafts. As usually she provided 80 percent of the actual talent, but I'm actually pretty proud of how this guy came out!
We do art!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Once upon a time...
In a city far far away I went on an urban safari for a friend...
I saw a warthog.
I saw a warthog.
It's been a while since I've wanted an adventure or art. But maybe sooner than I thought...
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Monday, November 29, 2010
Art Class: Collage
No, not a typo. I am, in fact studying collage.
collage (noun):
During our ceramics class last semester, I met Alyssa. She's an awesome artist who had a similar motive for taking art classes at Saddleback. We decided to take jewelery making together this semester, however schedule prevented this awesomeness from happening. So while perusing the Saddleback Course catalog I came up Collage Class. Somehow I convinced Alyssa this would meet our requirements of arts and crafts. So far, so good.:
I'll keep you updated in case at some point I actually accomplish the course description goal of developing personal imagery.
Also, I fail at photographing art... any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
collage (noun):
- an artistic composition of various materials (such as paper, cloth or wood) glued on a surface.
- cutting stuff up and putting it back together; but better.
During our ceramics class last semester, I met Alyssa. She's an awesome artist who had a similar motive for taking art classes at Saddleback. We decided to take jewelery making together this semester, however schedule prevented this awesomeness from happening. So while perusing the Saddleback Course catalog I came up Collage Class. Somehow I convinced Alyssa this would meet our requirements of arts and crafts. So far, so good.:
I'll keep you updated in case at some point I actually accomplish the course description goal of developing personal imagery.
Also, I fail at photographing art... any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Art Show!
Over the last few weeks it's been an ongoing joke with Jen that Gavin and I are going to need to head to a Rave or something equally drastic to balance out our decidedly suburban lifestyle. Honestly, I love our life, but variety is the spice of life!
Last week my friend Alyssa invited us to an art show she had a piece in. I've only ever been to a few art shows (although I was a security guard at a Thomas Kinkade show at CSUF back in the day!). I also wasn't quite 'open' enough to art to successfully appreciate the display on rotten food when I visited the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and since then have primarily avoided art shows. Even my most recent experience of listening to random Saddleback art students spew nonsense about pieces (most of which I actually liked) hasn't convinced me that art shows are for me. Still, as this entire blog will attest, I've become much more interested in art and was excited to see something different.
The show, Apopcalypse "Pop Goes the World", was housed in three renovated storage containers in Costa Mesa at The Lab. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the exhibit (honestly I wasn't sure if that was allowed or not. But after the show, Alyssa took some time to show us the inner world of the art kids:





We wrapped our evening with these:

So Thanks to Alyssa for the invite. And congrats!
Last week my friend Alyssa invited us to an art show she had a piece in. I've only ever been to a few art shows (although I was a security guard at a Thomas Kinkade show at CSUF back in the day!). I also wasn't quite 'open' enough to art to successfully appreciate the display on rotten food when I visited the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and since then have primarily avoided art shows. Even my most recent experience of listening to random Saddleback art students spew nonsense about pieces (most of which I actually liked) hasn't convinced me that art shows are for me. Still, as this entire blog will attest, I've become much more interested in art and was excited to see something different.
The show, Apopcalypse "Pop Goes the World", was housed in three renovated storage containers in Costa Mesa at The Lab. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the exhibit (honestly I wasn't sure if that was allowed or not. But after the show, Alyssa took some time to show us the inner world of the art kids:

We wrapped our evening with these:
So Thanks to Alyssa for the invite. And congrats!
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