A compendium of Things to Do with a six-year-old!

So, this summer I get the privilege of entertaining Small Child for the summer, so I decided to come up with a list of activities, both indoor and out, both crafty and not, and we could work our way through those for summer fun outside of swimming which is our go-to activity for her.

And, because I have no better place to keep such a list, and I have enjoyed reading through blogs and getting inspiration from their lists, I decided to share what I've come up with you guys as well!!

Here it is so far:

Making our own loom to weave potholders. Because we have a ton of out-worn/out-grown clothes that are not in good enough condition to donate.

Some of our other t-shirts could well do with some tie dying, fabric painting or general refashioning to hide all the stains... on the Small's t-shirts that is, because as a grown-up I don't constantly spill food on myself anymore.... yah, right... :)

Napkin rings made from recycled tissue rolls or plastic bottles, because I do have vast quantities of yarn, and well, tissue rolls are not hard to come by!

Small Child loves the "excavation" kits we pick up as a special treat, but I think she would like making her own even better!

Waffles on a stick. Need I say more? These fancy ones:

come from Nifty Thrifty Things. I don't think ours will be quite as fancy though!!!

This recipe might actually get Small Child to eat apples. On the other hand, I have no problem eating apples with dip, so I will probably over-indulge... a LOT! They remind me of some of those fancy-pants caramel apples you can buy for like, $10 a pop. Like these:

{Go HERE to find out how to make your own.}

And while we are busy playing with vast quantities of chocolate in the kitchen, we should probably make some of these chocolates.

After the chocolates, we'll need to get outside and burn off the calories. Grass Stain Guru, and Housing a Forest have a ton of ideas for outdoor or self-directed play. I've been following Chasing Cheerios for a very long time. It was one of the first blogs I started to read regularly, and even though it's geared to younger kids, I've gotten some really great ideas there. The three of these should provide at least a dozen or so jumping off points for this summer.

As well, I want to give teaching her how to crochet another try. She didn't have quite the co-ordination needed when I tried about 8 months ago! I think we'll start out simple with some chain-stitch bracelets she can wear and admire. Nothing like instant gratification, especially when learning something new.

Well, that's about all I have worked up so far. It should keep us entertained for a while at least. Maybe I'll make up one of these to keep track of it all:

{from Sassy Sites} 

  

Valentine's made BY a kid

Luckily, Small Child is crafty, so I don't have to resort to boxed cards, nor do I have to make them myself!

But she's still only 5 and needs something she can do by herself.

Ya, THIS:

Is NOT something to "leave" a 5-y-o to do by herself. Why?

This main piece:

Just happens to have 54 little itty bitty pieces to punch out. With 24 of these hearts in the box, that's 1296 little itty bitty pieces in total. Not that she couldn't have done it... it just would have taken 3 days! Next time I'll look at the box just a little closer!!

So after spending an hour removing said little itty bitty pieces (okay, that's the last time I will write that!), I tied the pieces together and let her go at them.

The best way to make this Small Child friendly? DO NOT GIVE THEM THE INCLUDED GLITTER GLUE!!! Give them a couple packages of stickers instead. Even better if you let them pick what stickers they are going to use! We used a general valentine pack, and a Mickey Mouse pack, and she went to town:

And created some masterpieces she is certainly proud of :

(and her mommy can be too!)



Linking up to Sassy Sites!

Sick Day/Snowflake Day

(This is one of those posts I couldn't finish due to lack of pictures. The real date was actually some time in mid-December, not Jan16 when it's actually scheduled to be posted. Which is completely ironic, because today, the real today, she is home sick anyways!!)

 So, Small Child was up throughout the night last night vomiting.

*Ya... that's definitely the first line I should write on my crafting blog... *

Which meant today was a sick day, stay home with Mama day, cuddle and do nothing day.
Have you ever tried to do nothing all day with a five year old? Don't do it unless you really want to test out your parenting skills. So very not awesome.

So I decided paper snowflakes (and a very lengthy You Tube playlist) were just the thing.

I used this paper folding technique at first... I am anal, and this produces a symmetrical 6 pointed snowflake. It proved too difficult for S.C. to cut though. Well, it was pretty hard for me to get much detail either!!

So I went searching for something simpler and found this technique instead. Much easier to cut. And boy, did she we ever. Here's the pile after an hour:

Which doesn't look amazing, but consists of no less than 50 snowflakes.

I realized that the folding needs to be done ahead of time though. She was cutting them up faster than I could get them folded. And it totally brings back memories of being a kid and being content to sit and cut these things for ever. Since when are kids not content to be still anymore??

Anyway, here's the mess we Small Child generated:

And this was with both of us cutting over the table, I had no idea until she dropped her scissors and I went to grab them that that much paper had ended up on the floor!

Rainbow Garland... aka How I Wasted Many Hours of My Life

Well, pics first, cuz I am going to do a lot of blabbing about this one:

So, Christmas with a 5-year-old would not be complete without the making of paper-chain garland, right?! Right!

And so I faithfully set about doing just that.

Only me being me, I couldn't just grab a stack of construction paper and a stapler and go at it... no, not I... I would have to test it out first, check to see what the ideal paper strip length and thickness was... and while I was testing, I might as well make a chain of garland that I would actually use after.

So the first hour was spent sorting through stacks of paper, searching for the right combo... and I couldn't pick something easy like "blue" or "traditional christmas" or "this section from this pre-co-ordinated package"... No, I couldn't. I had to do a rainbow. {One hour}

Cuz I rock the rainbow thing. It's my thing, ya know :)

And then the next hour was spent cutting 11 pieces of 6x12 papers into 1x6 strips... on my paper cutter, because that would be faster than doing it by hand, right?! So I thought... and about 3/4 of the way through I realized my blade was dull... and Michael's closes at 9, and there's no way I was getting there in time... oh well... keep on cutting... {Two hours}

AND THEN.... there's the gluing and wrapping... and gluing and wrapping... and gluing and wrapping... let's say, that is one mind numbingly boring task. {Three hours}

So, I finish that up, and today I decided to cut the other half of the papers... {Three and a half}

This time I was smart and used a straight edge and blade. Only I had to spend another 1/2 hour searching for a straight edge... {Four}

Then more gluing and wrapping... gluing and wrapping... etc etc ETC!!!! {5}

But, I think in the end it was worth it anyway...

At least my daughter, the "substitute festivus tree" thought so:

And I had to be the tree too:

I am happy with the end result... There's a good 30 feet of garland there... quite possibly more, but I can't measure it right now... (I kind of tore my living room apart today re-arranging furniture and I don't have a 20 foot run of clear space right now)... let's just say my daughter is on her own making hers...

Recycled Snowmen

So I am cheap.
Like, really cheap.
Just so you know.

Anyhow, I got these yogurt drinks and realized that the general shape was reminiscent of a snowman with a hat on, see:

So, after rinsing them out really well... and they still smell like strawberry by the way... I decided to snowman-ify them! I was going to go the long and arty route, and deck them with little crocheted scarves, and real buttons, and some twiggy little arms...

But I am lazy.
Like, REALLY lazy. (There may be something medically wrong with me).
Just so you know.

So, instead, I stood in my craft room, staring out the window and across the mess of my desk, wondering what I could do to make this a lazy person's craft, I spotted these:

(I've used them a couple times already, and totally should have got them sooner!)

And so this little guy was born:

Of course, I couldn't possibly do one without letting Small Child do it too. Here's hers:

(And I really can't believe that I got an actual craft done!!)