Archive for the ‘Kids: Crafty Design’ Category

Heard of this?

“The mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires.”
- William Arthur Ward -

Yes, a great teacher never fail to inspire regardless of the aptitude or quality of the students.

In life, even if we are not qualified teachers by profession, we  somehow play the role of “Teachers”, to our children, family, friends and colleagues.

As parents, we try our best to TEACH our children many things ( like the right set of values in life, the right behaviours),

And we Prepare them for their new milestones and journey to adulthood.

[I remember when I was a child, my mom would TELL me not to do this and that but I never actually got to know why. When I encountered difficulties as a child, my mom would settle them for me and I wish someone would show me how instead.

Then, I wish I had someone to inspire me to do what I faced most difficulties in than having it done for me. And someone to tell me not to avoid when I meet obstacles and inspire me to continue with my efforts even if I might not get the result that I need instantly.

That was when I was a child and what I did not have the opportunity to learn back then .....]

Now as a parent, I trully appreciate the importance of our role as a parent and teacher in inspiring our children.  Easy to say and not so easy to remember all the time BUT I am learning.

——–

Anyway, Teachers’ Day is 2 days away and in appreciation, the boys had prepared some handmade cards and gifts for their Teachers. It is more personal to make than to buy and it also gives  the opportunity for the boys to work on art and craft which they hardly have the chance to lay their hands on recently - especially with more school homework.

So, with some materials bought from Daiso, these are some of the results of our joint efforts

Another of Darren’s weekly art edition *smile*.

[You might have read our earlier post on 12 July about Darren's latest hobby to create art editions of his family members.]

Subject: Family

Topic : The Race. How Papa Shows That He Is Strong and Fast

Illustrations and Narration: With courtesy by Darren

——

 His story starts…..race with horses

 [In his drawing, mommy has become a horse! Luckily, he has not forgotten to draw my hair on my head. I like it though because in his photos, we always look so HAPPY.]

Darren: “One day, Darren and Mumy is chasing Papa’s car with a horse.”

Mommy:”Why did Papa drive off without waiting for us? Why do we chase him with horses when I can use my car?”

Darren:”Because Papa wants to go first and see how fast we are. I think a horse is faster than a car! Haha!”

Mommy:”Really?”

Darren:”Naughty Papa. Want to show that he is strong and fast. Actually, we are faster!”

Mommy:”?”

His story continues…..race with bus

Darren:”Papa chasing a bus. Papa drives so fast until his car engine spoils. Now, he has no car and he has to run after a bus. He is strong. He can catch up with a bus!”

His story ends…..race with gogo

 Darren:”It is Games Day. Papa wants to challenge gogo a race. Papa is showing that he is strong.”

[his gogo means brother Brendan]

Mommy:”So, Papa wins since he is strong?”

Darren:”No. You guess wrong. Gogo wins!”

Mommy:”Huh?”

Darren:”Because Papa is so strong and stamps his feet so loud until the ”judge”scold him and he lose.”

Mommy:”HUH?”

Darren and Mommy:”Hahahaha…hahaha…!”

——

He is imaginative and creative, isn’t he? Illustrating a story with a “twist” in the ending. Piecing all the stories together when the pictures are actually drawn on different occasions.

It is nice to know that our little boy holds so much respect for his dad for being strong and fast (in his own words). Except that the ending is  a pleasant surprise that made his Papa laugh too.

And our little boy really enjoys the narration while mommy enjoys typing it - as Darren lets his imaginations do the work and laughs out loud.

Over the weekends, he made us laugh with his latest art theme of “Sunny and Rainy Day”. It is not how well he draws but how he portrays his Papa and Mama from his little artpiece.

This is what he drew.

What's Papa doing on a sunny day?

Our boy narrates for the sunny day version:

“It is a hot sunny day.

Papa is watering plants.

Darren and Brendan are lazing on the beds.

Mommy is in the house doing something.”

[Haha, our boy must have seen too much of his Papa watering the plants in our little garden.]

What’s most interesting is the next picture. The rainy day version.

What's Mommy doing on a rainy day?

Mommy: “So that must be mommy? Haha..you have finally given mommy a new hairstyle!”

Darren:”Yah.Heehee…”

Mommy:”Oh! I am flying two kites! So challenging! That must be the strong wind blowing!”

Darren:”No. That is not kite. You are holding two umbrellas.”

Mommy:”You mean those are mini umbrellas? Oh! I see. So those dropping down is the rain. “

Darren:”Yah..heehee..haha…”

Mommy:”Why am I holding two umbrellas outside the house?”

Darren:”You are sheltering the flowers so that they don’t get wet and drenched. You are protecting the flowers, mommy. I  know you like flowers and you don’t want them to die”

Mommy:”Then mummy must be drenched while protecting the flowers since the umbrellas are so small.”

Darren:”No mommy. I take care of you. So that is why you have two umbrellas. Heehee…haha….

Mommy:”Then what are all of you doing at home?”

Darren:”It is at night already. So we are all sleeping and Papa is using computer.”

Mommy:”So mommy is standing outside protecting the flowers under heavy rain while it is late at night?”

Darren:”Yah. Haha..Haha. So, mommy, you like what I draw for you?”

Mommy:???

Hmm..I was speechless. Then we broke into laughter together.

I really love these drawings. Our children are indeed observant.

In real life, I do not go to the extent of sheltering plants under the rain but I do love planting. However, as I am really busy now, Papa Ed has been playing the role of our home gardener for a while.  For this, I must thank Papa Ed for setting up the landscaping in our little garden and Darren for helping me to choose new plants and also water them at times.

These drawings show how we are, who we are from the eyes of our children.  At other times, they reflect how our children feel for us.

I am happy that Darren has this initiative and creative idea to present these surprises to us each week. It helps us to bond in a way and laugh out loud too. Most importantly, he is fair cos both Papa and Mama get a picture each.

Really, I am already looking forward to what Darren is going to draw for us in the coming week *Smile*.

Thank You Darren. We like these very much *Big Hug*.

We are celebrating Father’s Day on 20 June 2010 - Tomorrow.

We will be dining with my father-in-law and also my dad.  The special part is my dad insists to prepare “steamboat” for us instead of dining outside.

Being a great cook, my dad has never fancied dining at restaurants and have a passion for dishing out great meals for us.  I am a LUCKY one to enjoy such delicious homecooked food:)

My gifts are ready and the kids have also prepared cards for grandpa and Papa Ed.  Please see previous post.

In addition, they have also handmade these pouches for Papa Ed.

We used felt cloth. The kids chose the design and colour, got some ideas from the design that came with the felt cloth and did the cutting. I sewed. 

That few hours of efforts are worth it - to show their father their love and thoughts:) Outcome is a contented father with his newest additions, handmade by family……

In fact, the kids are so excited with the outputs that they can get from efforts of sewing with felt cloth. So, we are going to make more stuff!

……..

By the way, how are you celebrating this special day with your father or father of your kids or even father-in-law?

 Have you or your young ones tried the FINGER PRINTING ART before?

I came across the finger printing art set by FABER-CASTELL while at Popular Book store the other day. 

I thought : “It will be a creative holiday activity for the boys and a good way to exercise their motor skills”.   So I bought it to create another family activity with the boys.  True enough, I am glad that the boys really enjoy and like it after trying out.

Just a look at the samples in the art book and Darren is thrilled by the number of stuff he can finger print!

I love this floral design found in the art book.

A car sample from the art book.

Let the “fingers do the pressing” and we can never imagine the number of designs that we can create simply with our fingers.  We can create different designs and sizes, simply by the placement of our different fingers.  Yeah, it is like the “thumb print” concept except that we are free to use any fingers.  To me, this seems like an artwork that could be accepted by people of any age group, besides the children.

I like the fact that the paints used are non-toxic and they are easily cleaned off with tissue paper or wet tissues. No worries about spill, stains or cleaning.

In two hours, we managed to make four cards using the technique of Finger Printing. It is just timely as Father’s Day Cards, both for Papa Ed and Grandpa.

Mommy's first finger printing art piece for the boys :)

Brendan's special card for Father's Day. According to him the theme is "Save the Earth" and "A Smiling Earth"

Darren's card for Papa Ed

This card is meant for Grandfather (Ah Gong)

The Finger Printing Art Book, that came with the paint set, served as useful reference guides too for the boys. Being our first time, the book certainly provides great ideas for us.  Found a site “billybear4kids” that gives us more ideas too.

Keen to try out new methods of colouring or painting besides using crayons, colour pencils and magic ink?  Why not try finger printing with your young ones? Let their imaginations run!

Two weeks ago, during my birthday, I have birthday greetings from POKEMON CHARACTERS *hee*.

Brendan and Darren, like usual years, have decided to present to me their BIRTHDAY WISHES in THEIR OWN SPECIAL WAY— through self-made pokemon cards (their favourite cartoon character of all time).  I have indeed received a number of self-made POKEMON cards from Brendan over the years. However, I still like them because each of them reflects their individual effort, their beautiful thoughts and improved drawing skills.

What really touches me are not only their efforts in making the “cards” for me but also their “thoughtful words” and “their impressions of me” which are explained in the cards.

FROM BRENDAN

He designed A CARD, A BOOKMARK and A POEM. 

The card……( I love the words and the cute pokemons)

Front Cover

 Inside of the card

Back Cover

The huge bookmark ….. ( lovely!)

The poem…. (4 simple sentences means a thousand words)

It warms my heart to stumble on “A Paper of Concept” where Brendan conceptualised what he wanted to make for me. Somehow, I am very happy to see this.  It shows his effort to do his best and also that he has learnt to organise his thoughts and plan.

 FROM DARREN

Haha..Darren didn’t want to give less than his elder brother and so he also designed A CARD, A BOOKMARK and A POEM.

I especially like the way he described me to be as “LIKEABLE” and “NICE” as PIKACHU! *lol*

Also the way he has constantly drawn my hair. I am not sure how that two pony tails come about but that has always been the way I have looked in my other portraits drawn by Darren*grin*.

Haha…I have won myself a “Star” and “Lots of love”.  Not sure why I am called Alice and perhaps he meant Alice in Wonderland?

Finally, a blue colour and heart shape paper gun (his kind thoughts to keep me safe) and another blue cut-out, with a heart, to illustrate to me that his love for me is inside his heart.  Really very sweet!

**********

In my heart, these are one of the most precious gifts I receive each year. I really like them and also the “Candles” that came as a pleasant surprise.  Thank You! FATHER AND SONS *I appreciate*.

Brendan and I spent about two hours planning the design of the cards for Brendan’s teachers on Teachers’ Day. So we made use of existing art and craft materials at home like coloured card boards, double-sided tapes, coloured papers, lace, decorative accessories.

Ta-da……Here are the 3 cards…………….Haha… not standard of commercially produced cards but definitely handmade and bears Brendan’s gratitude for his Teachers.

We extracted some meaningful wordings from the internet

Sometimes we feel tired and do not wish to go out. Yet we feel guilty for not spending quality time with the kids. So we will think of home activities to spend quality and creative time together. One way is to engage in play dough activities.

There are many recipes on internet to show how homemade play dough can be made. For us, we are slightly lazy and use readily bought play dough. We bought sets that come with moulds, forks, spoon accessories, rollers and other craft sets and we can create anything according to our imaginations. We kept our “nice creations” and will buy more doughs to achieve other designs and models. Those purchased from the shelves come in sushi set, burger/french fry set, ice cream set, spaghetti set, desert buffet set, pirate lovin’ playset and much more! During my childhood days, we used plasticine in school but plasticine tends to harden and there were no moulds and crafty accessories. We used our wildest imaginations and combination of colours then to make animal models, snowman, cars, alphebets etc. At that time, it was already a very interesting crafty activity. Kids, nowadays, are so fortunate:)

This is indeed a very educational activity that allows children to develop their mental thinking, creative and hands-on skills. In a way, it also helps young kids (who have difficulties focusing like my youngest boy, Darren) to really concentrate and enjoy what he is doing! I would advise supervision by an adult for play dough activities with young kids.

Here are some of the creative work of the boys, with guidance from their parents *wink*.

Kids busy at work

The deserts look so delicious. But they are not meant for eating:(

Brendan's Ice cream:)

Darren's creations:)

Brendan's creations:)

Privacy….hmmm…does not seem to be an easy thing to achieve especially when you have young children.  For instance, it shouldn’t be uncommon for children to eavesdrop or interrupt when dear daddy or mummy is busy on the phone.

I guess my boys are still too young to respect that their mother needs her own private corner.  Haha, I am not sure whether other children also regularly disrupt their mothers’ relaxing bath moments, just to finish their never-ending pieces of words. I often remember myself having to still answer persistent questions of the boys while struggling with shampoo in my mouth….. (Yes! The shampoo has got into my opened mouth because my children are often outside my bathroom door demanding an answer or telling their endless tales). Where is the privacy? So whether I am bathing or changing, the closed door does not seem to be a barrier to the children in getting what they want or intruding. It is strange why nobody in my family seems to respect the rule of knocking door despite reminders <Frown>.

Then I got an idea! I decided to constantly remind my boys of the importance of knocking before intruding/demanding their way into any locked door by making it graphical for them. The boys got to make entry signages and respect them. For now, they will be displayed outside my bathroom and I do hope that they will work wonders. I guess, sometimes, we have to be a little innovative to get our message loud and clear to the children <*Grin*>. 

Here are the artworks cum “pls do not disturb me” or “pls come disturb me” door signages by the boys <*Wider Grin*>. If they make it themselves, hopefully the message will be louder in their mind. Teaching kids to obey instructions, is certainly a discipline in life.

Haha...the lion is supposed to be a warning to children.

The cuddly pig gestures a warm and big welcome

H1N1 has become a community spread in Singapore and we have a total of 454 cases as at yesterday. We chose to let the boys stay at home over the weekends and away from the usual crowded venues.  I decided to cultivate the little artists at home by asking them to each draw a picture of the zoo.

Brendan came up with a picture of what we would expect to be a pair of giraffes in its open habitat.

Artist: Brendan

Darren decided to be a real creative artist! His is really a masterpiece of abstract art…haha….Use your imagination and you will be able to visualize a very vibrant and colourful zoo with animals, sun, bird and sky.  

Artist: Darren

I like his picture too, although, I couldn’t keep my jaw close when I first saw it.  Art is about creativity and there is no right or wrong as we let the little children extend their imagination. I guess this is the little creative world of a cheerful boy who never fails to surprise me at times. I like kids because they are not bound by pre-conceived perception and can really let out the wildest imagination in them!

I usually keep a portfolio of their artwork so that they can view them in future and have a good laugh:)

Cake…..

More cakes…..

Looks delicious but they are not edible. Darren’s school brought them to the Baking Industry not too long ago and recently organized a little baking session in class. The children also assisted to build the models of the cake using card boards and cotton wool etc. Parents were invited to the school to view the exhibits and purchase the muffins and cookies baked by the students. Parents got to pay a little token to enjoy the cookies specially baked by their little young ones. 

At the end, they played the role of cashiers too while they collected the little tokens of payment from parents who purchased these cookies. 

I thought this is a very good educational and hands-on concept for the students. The children got to learn baking, using the right amount of ingredients, teamwork, mathematics, sales and most important is they derive fun while learning.

We were never so creative during our younger school days. There are also so many cooking classes organised for young children now in private schools and community clubs. I remembered the first time I learned to bake was when I was in my teens and some of those sessions were examinable.