Little Elephants: Kids Crafts and Fun Activities

Paper airplane party

For Bjørn and Tor's birthday party we ended up not doing Sculpy Pokemon as Bjørn had originally requested. It would have been impossible to get a big group of seven year olds to sit still and focus for long enough to actually have fun with it. That one works much better in a play-date setting.

It was ok in the end, because Bjørn decided that what he really wanted to do was to have a paper airplane party. We brought along a ream of brightly colored paper, and two trusty how-to books. The kids had a blast with it, literally spending over an hour with the activity (not bad when you consider that the invite was for a two hour party!).

The books were a huge hit, and several parents took notes on the titles to pick up for their young aviators. Both are by Ken Blackburn and Jeff Lammers, and both have detailed instructions, as well as sample planes you can pull out from the books and fold yourself. You can follow these links to check them out at Amazon:

All better now!

I'm sure the rest of the world was waiting with baited breath for my categories to get fixed, and now they are :-)

Now I've just got to figure out how to make proper index pages for the cats so you don't have those loooong pages to scroll through!

And lest you thought I'd leave you without your dose of kids' fun, let me direct you to the recipe for the asian style dumplings that Bjørn and I made this evening. Delicious and incredibly easy to make!

Blog issues

I'm so bummed just now... when you click on the categories for my blog (my primary navigation), you don't get all my content. I've submitted a bug report to Typepad, and I'm hoping to have everything back in order soon.

In the meantime, if you are looking for something specific, I suggest you use the site search box I've provided in the middle column (scroll down).

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Vero.

Suggestions needed :-)

Tomas is in Denmark celebrating his MorMor's 100th birthday (incredible, right?!) for another week, and I've just realized that I never gave him my shopping list! I figure, as long as I have to re-write the thing, I might as well get feedback from my readers since many of you happen to be in Europe.

So far I've got:

• Bolig Liv magazine
• Loads of licorice
• Bernaise essence (it's a flavoring extract for Bernaise sauce)
• Sauce/soup thickener(called Sauceline in France, not sure about DK)

I want more Danish and European craft, home, and children's activity magazines, as well as one or two great craft books. If there's anything along the lines of the wonderful Paumes books (that I love, love, love!), I'd have to have those as well.

I'm hoping some of you have suggestions for me, I'd so much rather be browsing the Danish shops myself, but this'll have to do until the next family trip!

Bjørn's self-portraits over time

This is one we've seen before when Maggie did the same self-portraits over time project at school. I'm sharing again because I love how each child infuses this activity with their own very distinct personality, hopes and dreams.

I think it's wonderful that Bjørn sees himself having such a happy life!

Here's a wall-full of the gems:

Swedish rye bread

For years now my mother-in-law has made delicious rye bread, filled with sunflower and other tasty seeds, from mixes she picks up in Denmark. When I'm lucky enough to visit she sends me home with a pack or two to make at home and I hoard them like gold.

I can't tell you how excited I got (really, my heart rate actually sped up!) when I noticed some Danish women on line at Ikea with boxes of this stuff piled high in their carts. When I asked where they'd found it they kindly pointed me to the right spot & filled me in on their simple secret for making Swedish rye bread.

The milk carton has all the dry ingredients, you just add water, mix, set it to rise, and then bake. So incredibly simple. The tip from the Danes was not to shake it all in the carton as directed on the package, but to mix it in a big bowl. You have much better control over it all this way, and you reduce the risk of a big mess.

This is an incredibly easy weekend-afternoon activity for the kids. I only wish mine enjoyed the bread as much as I do!

Serve with butter, fontina, or paté. Any savory or mild topping will go well. It's a perfect mid-morning snack.

Evolution of a simple project

Several months ago Maggie and Bjørn made a series of finger puppets that still get dragged out for play every once in a while. The last time Bjørn left his out on his dad's drafting table ... well, this page of doodles is a good example of what tends to happen if you leave things in Tomas' way, they get incorporated into whatever he's doing.

Bjørn was quite proud to see what his daddy had done.

This photo just gets a big smile out of me every time I see it. I imagine the adventures these little aliens must go on, and I wonder why poor Gostley never got his head-gear?

Memory box

In Bjørn's classroom all the kids were tasked to bring in a Memory Box. This could be a decorated shoe box, or a special box from home to hold treasures. Bjørn opted to decorate one, but was too amped up with his birthday planning last week to do the work himself, so he art-directed his mama, picking out all the bits and pieces to be included.

Over the next few months he'll be bringing in small items that are special to him and represent people and events in his life. I think this is a wonderful way to show children where they come from, reflect on who they are, and how they have changed over time.

I'm wondering if he'll bring in his tooth collection?

Sculpey Pokemon

My blog-friend Kim (she's a contributor to the Chicago Moms Blog, I post on the Silicon Valley Moms Blog) sent me a great suggestion (and a photo example!) for a possible craft for Bjørn's birthday party. Sculpey Pokemon! I can't believe how she tapped into his Poke-obsession and his desire for a craft.

As soon as I showed him the photo he insisted that we had to try do this. I thought it was rather convenient that Diddams had Sculpey clay available when we picked out his party paraphernalia later in the day. The minute we got back in the house Bjørn, Maggie, and Tomas set to testing it out -- just to make sure it would work for the party.

The picture here is of their first effort (they made more today with the cousins). I'm wondering if we'll even have any clay left for the party ... Thanks Kim!!

Five lessons about kids and parenting

You know, sometimes you need to hear a complete stranger talk before you hear the obvious.

It was Back to School Night a couple days ago and the school's principal had invited parent coach and educator, Susan Stone Belton to give a speech. It was a short talk, but man, did it pack a punch for me.

Five Lessons About Kids

1. Kids act their worst when they feel the safest. This is good to know. I'm glad my kids feel extra safe at home and with our friends and family :-)
2. Kids want and need your attention more than anything so reward the behaviors you like with attention, and ignore the ones you don't. If you have one kid shooting peas at the dinner table, and another behaving properly, reward the one who is behaving with your full attention. "Ignore the pea-shooter!"
3. Kids need to make their own choices and deal with the consequences. Say your kid wants to go out on a cold day without wearing a jacket. Let 'em. Next time you can count on his making a good choice.
4. Relax and enjoy your kids more. If your child is driving you crazy, pretend he isn't yours. Other people's kids are funny. And don't forget to laugh!
5. Grades don't matter. Celebrate effort, not scores. The whole point is to learn the love of learning. [this was a funny one for this particular audience because our school does not give grades]

Five Lessons for Parents

1. Always sign up for pick-up duty when carpooling. You'll get to hear the best stories.
2. Listen more than you talk.
3. If your kid is fussy/obnoxious, feed 'em or put them to bed. (it works!!)
4. Don't yell, they're watching and learning.
5. Act the way you want your kids to act and be the adult you'd like them to grow up to be.

What's funny is that I actually sat through Susan's presentation twice just to make sure it really sunk in. I still have a temper and get cranky if I'm too hot or hungry, but the past couple days I've been so much more conscious of when I'm speaking at my kids instead of with them. That alone made hauling my butt to an extra three hours of meetings at the end of an excruciatingly long day totally worth it.