Since FriBoy figured out that he can design and make his own stuffed toys, this has become a favorite activity in our household. He also wants the most unusual animals which we can’t readily find in a toy store. This time he wanted a flying squirrel, now our 5th handmade stuffed toy.
Last weekend I saw a friend putting together a kite out of scraps of paper. I never flew a kite as a child and I thought it was absolutely awesome. I also remember my father telling me that it was a popular activity when he was a kid because there were no toys and children would play a lot outside, improvising all sorts of contraptions.
I am starting this post with the end phrase: this was super awesome !!! – because it really was a great activity, as neither of us have ever seen how those chocolate shallow figures are made. Plus last year for a “what do you want to be when you grow up?” art project at school, FriBoy painted himself as a Maître Chocolatier and I thought I’d make his wish come true for a day.
For this week’s Artsy Wednesdays we made a family of paper peacocks. It was again one of those days where I was too tired to plan and think of something more interesting and I just googled quickly for an idea that is easy and fast to make. However, this proved to me that the simplest ideas are more captivating and equally spark creativity as compared to more complex projects. In fact, we have a history of activities that failed to make FriBoy interested up to the end because I used to think that complex is better, develops more competencies and keeps kids more interested. But that is so untrue, quite the opposite actually. So I’ve learned no to underestimate the easy ones.
This week for Artsy Wednesdays we played with letters. The purpose of this activity was to go through the french alphabet in a creative an artful way by making fingerprint animals for each letter.Continue reading
Today for our Artsy Wednesdays we tried another art and science experiment, a colorful acid-base chemical reaction painting.
I was clueless this morning what to do for a creative activity but when desperate, clay is always a good idea.
A STEAM challenge and a creative way to reuse old toys’ parts – Pointillist robot
First and foremost, I think education should have an interdisciplinary approach to art and science. Teaching them separately is like mining the human brain for an isolate resource and ignoring the rest. I think it goes against the holistic evolution of the human brain and body to exploit an aptitude in favor of another and compartmentalize disciplines.
We made play-dough for our #ArtsyWednesdays today.
Sometimes I find it frustrating that Lausanne, Geneva or Zürich have more to offer to children from the cultural point of view than Fribourg, especially on Wednesdays when I am out of ideas what to do with FriBoy. The good part is that in Switzerland these distances can be easily covered.