Summer Recap: Independent Craftiness

Okay, so I admit it. We kind of got away from our weekly artist lessons this summer. I'm sort of bummed about this because I really enjoy doing those projects with the girls. But, this summer just kind of got away from us! It flew right by and before I knew it, they were heading back to school.

We had a great and fun summer! But I guess we just focused on other things. The girls summer bridge work in the mornings, we had books to read for a book club we were in together, not to mention minutes to read for there summer reading log on top of all that. So I guess we focused more on academics this summer instead of planned art activities. But the girls still did art camps at Kidcreate. They created fun things like these candy beach scenes!

Ha ha! Do you see the marshmallow people in the chairs? See one of them is pink? That's because that one is sunburned! LOL!

I did ask them to create some LegoQuest projects. In this one, they were asked to create an outdoor scene. I told them it could be anything, a park, ocean, whatever they wanted!

My ten year old's Arboretum complete with bridge, stream, and "path with lights on the side".

 LOVE the "No Picking" sign with the park security guard there. :-)

My 8 year old's beach scene complete with sand castle and person laying in the sand by the water.

But, honestly, what I think is one of the neatest things about this summer is that our art room was used ALL the time! Just not for projects I was leading. The kids, all three of them, just went up there whenever they wanted and created things. They came up with their own projects, figured out what they needed for them, sat down, and produced some fun and amazing things!

My three year old just sat down one night (hence the yucky red light and terrible iphone photos!) and did his own thing. It was so fun to watch!

And this is what he created, his first artwork all on his own!

I think it should be entitled "Alien Spaceship". He couldn't verbalize to me exactly what he was making, but in watching him, it was very purposeful. And here is the aftermath of his creating. ;-)

My younger daughter crafted this owl pillow completely on her own:

Also, this beautiful chalk wall on the side of our garage:

A wrapping paper version of herself on her bedroom wall:

And a plan for a birdhouse (she is getting a kit to make one for her birthday in a few weeks):

My 10 year old daughter was also inspired this summer and created this winter fairy garden based on a project she found in our Jumbo Book of Outdoor Art book:

She also created this Minion ipod holder out of duct tape:

And just a couple other fun random creations from the summer:

Lily made a little fort/tent for her and Kellan to play under. It included a "tv" as well. She hung the iPad from the back of the couch. :-)

 And a wine cork person just for the fun of it.

I'm sort of proud that I have set the foundation for my children to find the supplies they need and just create to their heart's content. It makes me so happy to see them inspired by so many things and even though I missed doing our projects together, it was almost better to leave them be and see what they came up with on their own!

Craft Project: Easy Duplo Lego Puzzles

I came across this idea on my good friend Pinterest. Simply print out or find images that will fit onto the front of two Duplo lego blocks (we have a whole bin of these already). Cut image in half. Use packing tape to affix them. Voila! Super easy two-step puzzles for your toddler. My son still doesn't quite get the concept of putting them together to make the image, but he will. And these would be fairly easy to throw in the backpack to bring with to restaurants. We only have a black and white laser printer, so I actually cut my images out of my daughters' look and find activity pad (funny, I bought it as a bargain thing for maybe $7--it's listed as $25 now--definitely not worth that!).  You could use magazine images too or other recycled material.