Mom said I could help her make corn bread!  Helping with baking is fun because I get to dig in the flour.

Mom is going to let me dump in the baking powder!  She says we have to pick the right little spoon out of the drawer.  . . . → Read More: How Little Boys Help Mom Cook]]> By Owen (age almost 3)

Mom said I could help her make corn bread!  Helping with baking is fun because I get to dig in the flour.

Mom is going to let me dump in the baking powder!  She says we have to pick the right little spoon out of the drawer.  The one she is picking is not the one that looks like the most fun to me, so I keep grabbing other ones, and she keeps putting them back.  She keeps saying something about not wanting to wash all the measuring spoons.  Whatever.  Playing in the dish water is fun, so I don’t see why we don’t just use them all!

See how good I’m doing so far?  And I haven’t even come close to touching that pan with the beans in it because it’s HOT.

Since I did such a great job helping, Mom is letting me drive my little digger truck in my own pan of cornmeal!  Now the brothers are jealous – ha!  Cooking with Mom is a lot of fun!

**Note from Mom:  Owen is constantly wearing this shield on his back, backpack style.  It’s so funny…

First, we googled “Impressionism”  and looked at some paintings by Monet and other French artists.  The boys especially liked Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” (which . . . → Read More: Art Activity: Impressionist Paintings]]> After listening to Debussy’s Clair de Lune the other week during Lunch with the Composers, I have been in the mood to do some Impressionist style painting with the boys.

First, we googled “Impressionism”  and looked at some paintings by Monet and other French artists.  The boys especially liked Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” (which is really Post-Impressionism).  We talked about how Impressionist artists used a lot of paint, and they used short brush strokes or dots of paint.  They also used a variety of colors – so instead of painting a river one shade of blue, they created a much more interesting effect by using a whole array of colors.

Then we got out paints and brushes and got to work!  We listened to Debussy while we worked for a little inspiration.

Here’s is Gresham’s Impressionism (he’s 5):

And Aidan’s (He’s 8, and I helped him sketch the picture with a pencil first):

We worked on choosing an appropriate sized brush (bigger is not always better!), painting with just the tip of the brush,  and not using the brush as a shovel to scoop paint on to the paper!  Aidan did a really good job, and was very proud of his finished picture.  He enjoyed using strokes of different colors in the river and grass.

The other big skill that we worked on was painting different parts of the picture in the correct order.  For example, the trees turn out much better if you paint the sky first.  Then, you can paint the trees on top of the sky without them looking like they’re running into each other.

Maybe next time we’ll try painting on a canvas!

Legos: Legos are a favorite at our house, especially Star Wars ones!  We found that purchasing some . . . → Read More: Soap Carving and Other Ideas for Older Boys]]> Now that Aidan is getting older (8, turning 9 this summer), he is ready to have more “older boy” things to do.   Here are some things that we have found that he enjoys:

Legos: Legos are a favorite at our house, especially Star Wars ones!  We found that purchasing some extra base plates made our Legos more fun.  The boys have been building elaborate forts that keep them busy for hours!

Carving bars of soap: We have been studying American history this year, and Aidan was thrilled when I told him that he could learn to carve the way early Americans did.  I gave him a small pocketknife, a bar of soap, a stern safety lecture, and let him have at it!  He spent a happy afternoon “carving” on his soap to make a boat.  It was harder than he thought, but he enjoyed it!

Basic Woodworking: Aidan loves to hammer nails and saw on scrap boards.  Last year, he even made a set of blocks for Owen’s 2nd birthday (with some help from Dad!).

Build-Your-Own PVC Pipe Sprinkler: Check out our post from last year on how to build a PVC pipe sprinkler!

Floor mopping: At this age, kids don’t need endless free time.  It’s good for boys to learn how to work hard.  And who says chores have to be boring?  We mix up a bucket of homemade floor cleaner (I don’t use the borax if the kids are using it themselves) and have Aidan scrub the floor with a rag.  Some music to listen to while mopping makes it more fun!

Other Chores: Aidan also can vacuum the house, vacuum the van, do laundry, and clean the bathroom.  It’s great to have such a good helper!

Another good chore for this age is learning to organize things.  Aidan has a “treasure box” on his dresser that the younger brothers are not allowed to get into.  Being the pack rat that he is, Aidan accumulates a lot of stuff in his treasure box!  When he’s feeling restless and jumping off the sofa, etc., a good project is organizing all those treasures and straightening up the top of his dresser.

How do you occupy your bigger boys?

We do an EASY craft that quickly gets energetic boys engaged instead of bouncing off . . . → Read More: Sock Snake]]> What do we do when we’ve had NINE showings on our house (which is up for sale) and everyone is tired of cleaning and waiting and cleaning and leaving? (And full of restless energy because it’s all so unsettling?)

We do an EASY craft that quickly gets energetic boys engaged instead of bouncing off the walls!

And there’s not much simpler than a sock snake.  Just find an old sock and add hot glue, googly eyes, and some felt decorations.  We stuffed ours with fiber fill stuffing, but you could also recycle tissue paper or newspaper as stuffing, or maybe stuffing from an old stuffed animal.  I sewed the ends of the snakes shut.

Aidan made a “hood” out of felt to make his look like a cobra.

When the snakes were done, the boys made homes for them out of cardboard boxes, and that kept them busy for another hour or so!  Yay for simple fun!