Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Home-made Fun & Memories

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I poke around the ether quite often for holiday inspiration. I love to gather ideas from Martha Stewart, Better Homes & Gardens, Danielle :), and the likes. But often, those are not the kinds of crafts little kids can help with.

This season, I wanted to focus on things I could do with my kids. One day while Henry and I were playing with scissors at the white table, we just started piecing together jack-o-lantern faces from shapes we'd cut. In an instant, my mind was flooded with all kinds of cut-n-paste ghouls we could create together.

Next thing we knew we were excitedly cutting big orange circles, little green stems, snaggle-toothed smiles, and finally, we were gluing. Henry loved the messiness of the glue. I loved the synergy of our combined creativity. Over the next few weeks, we made additional spooks out of paper, glue, and a little bit of washable paint. We had so much fun concocting ghoulish forms - monsters, ghosts, jack-o-lanterns and scary black blobs. We laughed about the faces Henry made with his clumsy brush strokes.

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When we'd amassed a nice little collection of frightful faces, I hung a length of twine from the fireplace mantle and Henry helped me attach our creations with mini clothes pins.

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I couldn't love a Martha masterpiece more.

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Another fun activity we did together was a Halloween scavenger hunt. We just did it one morning while Lily was napping. Henry went into his room while I hid half-a-dozen clues -- inside a shoe, in the oven, tucked inside a library book...



They lead him to a little Halloween DVD I had picked out at the beginning of the month. When he found it, we watched it together. It was a fun way to create excitement and a memory around a simple gift.

Hope you've filled the month with Halloween magic - and if you haven't, there are still a few days to squeeze in some simple fun!

5 comments:

Joan said...

I am impressed with Henry's craft skills! If I give James a pair of scissors he ends up with a piece of confetti!
Those monsters, ghouls, and jack-o-lanterns turned out darling. What a fun project, Em.
I have seen several five dollar Halloween DVDs at Target that I know would be a fun addition to our small collection. The scavenger hunt is a perfect way to make an event out of five bucks! :) Well done.

Lindy Johnson said...

that banner is adorable!

Bloom said...

joan: the cutting was done with close supervision and help. fine motor is definitely not our forte :)
but the more we practice, the more naturally it comes along.


i'm already brainstorming creations we can "clothesline" for other holidays...

xo
em

Danielle said...

Well your mantle couldn't be cuter. I love the glow and home-made charm. Darling!

lori said...

darling, darling, darling!