kid’s craft {rainbow hearts}

A conversation with my 3 year old (when his best friend/big brother wasn’t home)
Him: “Let’s do something fun.”

Me: “What do you want to do?”

Him “Play the wii.”

Me: “No, we could make cookies.”

Him: “No, that’s boring.”

Me: “You could make a painting for your room.”

Him: “No, that is boring.”

Me: “We could make playdoh.”

Him: “No, that’s boring.”

Me: “We could melt crayons and make hearts for Valentines.”

Him: “No, that’s boring.”

Me: “Okay, what is not boring?”

Him: “Playing the wii.”

I got out the crayons and decided to start shaving crayons and melting them anyway. This the face sitting across the table from me as I played.

He watched me shave the crayons (with an old cheese grater).

He watched me lay out a towel, then wax paper, then pour the shavings on top, and then cover it with another piece of wax paper and another towel.

He watched me iron it just until the crayons melted.

And his pout turned into a grin and my idea wasn’t so boring anymore.

This is a bit messy of a craft, but fun nonetheless (the towels I used did get stained just fyi). Several people have asked me about how I get my kids to do craft projects. Well, sometimes it is easy. Sometimes it takes me starting it out by myself before they realize how much fun my idea is.

I will say my initial idea was cute hearts in various shades of red. Big Brother wanted to add blue. I’d like to say I agree without hesitation, but I usually hesitate. I told him, “Hearts aren’t blue.” He responded, “Mommy, hearts are whatever color you want to make them.” I could stick to my guns and have cute hearts hanging in the window or I could give in to the blue. I gave in. Encouraging his creativity and imagination are more important than picture book designs.

I cut out hearts to hang in the windows…he cut various shapes, strung them and wanted them hanging in his room.

And on a totally random note…look what I found online!

Yep, my quilt for the Margaret’s Hope Chest Craft Hope Project. It was my first quilt ever and I am pretty proud of it…even if it looks a bit sad and ugly in this photo among all the hard core quilts! Some little guy or girl is warm today. Pretty cool. The next project is making scarves for college students that have aged out of the foster care system. I don’t know how to knit, but hopefully I can figure that out soon to get a scarf there by the Feb. 14th deadline. Check it out here!