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Thursday, January 5, 2012

When Art Time Fails


We tried a bit of tissue paper on contact paper window art today.  I've seen the idea around, we had the stuff, I thought the kid would like it.  But you can see above that once he stuck four pieces on the window (two without even tearing them up), the real draw of the activity was the tube of contact paper.





These are the pictures taken near the end of our playtime, when he was relatively still.  He spent a good part of the morning beating on things with the contact paper tube--at his best making rhythms with different sounds (window, tissue paper, chair, floor), at his worst hitting me.

Now, there are a number of things I could have done differently to make this activity more inviting.  I could start by clearing off the table to make it less distracting.  But despite my plans or lack of preparation, Toby still did get his learning activity.  He explored music and rhythm and science and social skills (ouch!) by swinging that darn tube around.

I'm not particularly organized or structured in my parenting.  If I pull out activities or materials it's only because I don't know any other way to try and fill these days with an energetic preschooler in a small apartment.  What amazes me every time is that Toby is perfectly capable of playing and exploring and figuring things out on his own.

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