Inside and Out

This weekend was very busy again. As usual. In addition to continuing the bedroom makeover, Tyler was feeling great, so he kept us busy busy!

When I mentioned that I needed to paint some more in the bedroom, that gave Tyler the idea that he needed to do some painting too. Watercolor painting. We worked again on pulling - not pushing - the brush, rinsing it out between color changes, and who the paintings could be given to. He painted holiday related things like trees and pumpkins. He painted a scene from the book The Little Blue Truck. Then he was ready for other things.

I am glad I read about letting little ones make their own shapes and versions of things instead of showing them how to draw our way. Did you ever think that drawing the sun for them, or a person, might keep them from being creative? I didn't, but now when he asks me to make something for him, I ask him to make it for me instead. I don't want to limit how he might portray something as wonderful as a rainbow or sunset.

These days, we are all searching for economical ways to have fun and learn. What do you have at home that you take advantage of for other uses? Do you allow your toddler to see how things work and what outcomes are, in safety of course?  I have these heavy cardboard tubes that we usually put Hot Wheels cars through. Which one comes out fastest and goes the farthest in our tiled hallway? What happens if we elevate the tube to different levels? This weekend Papa (Bryan) and Tyler set up a ramp at the bottom of the tube.  Using ping pong balls and a super bouncy rubber ball, they saw that the balls shot up the ramp and all over the bedroom. Very entertaining! Just wait til that tube becomes a potato cannon or something in few years. I can see rocket launching in our future too. And erupting volcano school projects.

Since you may not know where to find a heavy duty cardboard tube, you can check at a local print shop, like the one we have here called Digital Now. Any shop that prints drawings for architects, engineers and contractors will have these tubes and pretty much give them to you free.

Daylight meant playing in the yard again. Soccer and tee-ball, drawing on the porch with sidewalk chalk.

There is nothing like a toddler to keep you moving! He gets so creative with the chalk drawings I am bursting with pride, and he is so good at pitching, his Papa can see him in the Major Leagues already.