Projects

I learned the value of art projects when my oldest was about a year old.  When they are acting out or squabbling the best thing to do is to give them something to work on.  It is also a great way to get quality time in with your kids as you supervise them.  Some projects are fancy and require planning and some they only do for five minutes and move on to something else.  My kids love working with their hands but didn't like to just sit and color until about three weeks ago so I had to be a little more creative.

Here are some of my favorites: Finger painting, painting coloring pages, stickers, dry erease board activities, stamps, cutting and glueing, letter worksheets (dollar tree has good activity books), reading a book and having them draw something from the book, making paper hats, glueing pasta or cereal to make a picture, and the list goes on and on. 

So I challenge you to take some time to do a project with your kids.  I bought a piece of plastic at JoAnne's to put on my kitchen table so clean up is always easy and we just have a good time.  The best part is there is something to show for it when you're done.  I used to have a wall in my kitchen covered with projects and each of them was a good reminder of a memory of mde together.