Unplugged - We're Back!

The Unplugged Theme this week was "petal". At this time of year, this theme should have been easy for us, but on the afternoon that we were supposed to plant flowers, it rained. It was cold. We did not go outside.

So we started with flowers made from Styrofoam egg containers. We have done many open ended projects, because wanted to encourage E to create without boundaries, something I really think is lacking in education at all levels. But this time I decided to challenge her in a different way, by showing her how to make the flower, step by step. Thanks to my crazy-craft-supply-hoarding tendencies, we had all of the materials...egg containers, pipe cleaners, beads, and tissue paper. You can see by the picture how easy they are to put together...E is 3 and had no trouble with the steps involved. The stiffness of the pipe cleaner makes it very easy to put the beads on.As you can see from her pose, she wanted to "smell the roses", so we took out some Tommy Girl perfume and gave each one a little squirt. Warning: The tissue paper in the center of the flower holds the scent VERY well. So use the perfume sparingly.

Baby m was pretty fascinated with the pipe cleaners. I did give him a completed flower to play with, and in true "boy" fashion he demolished it in seconds. (And no, it's not up his nose...just dangerously close).Later in the week, when Grandma and Grandpa came for dinner, E and I got them crafting...E really doesn't take no for an answer. She passed out all the pieces and "supervised", and then reminded me that we had to squirt them with perfume. Seriously, next time I'll use a diluted mixture. My eyes water every time I go into the dining room!
Once we had a dry day, E and I went back to the task of planting the annuals. She really loved picking out the colors and placement. The digging was a little hard for her because our soil is heavy on the clay. But she would gladly pull that wagon around all day!