afternoon drawing game

On the patio with little James, he's 5yrs old ~ He started each drawing with a mark, I would make the next mark, and so on. With a little embellishment per James' requests, we came up with some neat stories. In this one a large fishing boat is determined to catch everything in the sea, even the island on the horizon... but a group of mermaids save the day.

In the second drawing, a factory is polluting the waters of a lake and river, carrying it into the ocean. I saw the recognition in James' eyes when he saw how the pollution got to the sea.  "But who will save the day now?" I ask him...  "Well, the mermaids, of course!"

Dino~Couture

This is an activity I did with some young friends, 5-8yrs old. Watching me working, the kids were fascinated by the materials strewn over the table. So I let them have a hand at the design process, coordinating colors, textures & themes. What they came up with was playful and fresh.











We used vintage-style victorian lace appliques, placing beads and embellishments on them.  Mikey, the scientist of the bunch, enjoyed looking at them with his pretend microscope (binoculars) while we talked about the details in coral or carnelian, learning about nature and the shapes it takes.  Bella mixed silver chain and black pearls with soft pink coral beads. I noticed the girls were much more careful with their choices of color and placement. But according to Mikey, when it comes to design theory, more is more.