You may or may not have read that I have set myself a Creative Challenge to be more creative with Monkey’s playtime and to allow him to explore his creativity more at the same time. I know I am not alone in my fears about messy play but I am trying my best to brave with this challenge. (Please click here if you would like to join the challenge!)
With V day coming up I thought it was a perfect opportunity to be a bit creative. Hubby and I don’t really do valentines day but I thought that Monkey’s Nanny and Grandma might appreciate a card from him. So using an idea I’ve nabbed from Baked Potato Mummy I decided to do some cutting and sticking. I cut out some heart shapes and tore up some tissue paper in suitable valentines colours.
I was going to try and do the gluing on the hearts before Monkey joined in as I was worried how he would get on with the glue… but well I failed and my child is far too clever for me. He always seems to know when I am doing something I don’t want him to know about. I think it’s a combination of me being rubbish at being sly and the fact that he wants to know what is going on ALL the time to make sure he’s not missing out!
So anyway he came to find out what was going on and was immediately obsessed with the glue bottle and lid….
for ages….
…even while I was trying to get him interested in sticking things (he loves stickers so I thought he would love it, but, no). He eventually had fun blobbing the glue on the card, but he didn’t want to stick the tissue paper down.
And then, well I’m not really sure why, I think he thought I was trying to take the glue away from him (he was getting annoyed with having sticky hands so was trying to help!) but he started bawling. Properly bawling. As if his world was ending. For ages. For apparently no reason.
After a while I got out some little foam bits and he cheered up instantly – and played with them for a bit and then went to off to play-doh. (Kids, eh?)
So well, here are the valentines cards… but I’m ashamed to say that aside from a little bit of glue dobbing, I made them (eye roll). Not a great start to the Creative Challenge! I’ve tried to console myself that it was good sensory play, and good fine motor control practice, but, well, really it was a big fat fail wasn’t it? haha oh well, you’ve got to laugh! Maybe I will try something slightly less ambitious for our next messy play!
The upside was that when my little bro, Uncle Marky, came round for a play after work, the two of them had a whale of a time playing with the tissue paper, throwing it up in the air and all around! haha They were at it for ages! Silver lining and all that!
The Creative Challenge linky will open on the LAST WEDNESDAY of every month – so 26th February. I hope your creative challenge is going better than mine is so far! 🙂 Two weeks to go! Click here to find out more!!
I’m also linking up with Kid GLloves and Mini creations… though all Monkey really made was a mess 🙂 sorry guys! xx
Oh no! I wouldn’t let Little Man loose with glue yet, though he is a bit younger than Monkey. I think he’d eat it…! Liking the tissue paper play at the end, though -as you say, silver lining 😉
Thankfully we are out of that eating everything stage now! haha otherwise I totally know what you mean. glue still terrified me though and I don’t think he was ready either really but hey ho, you live and learn and at least he had a fun afternoon with the tissue paper! xx
Oh well, it’s good to blog about things that don’t go so well, it helps us normal mums remember not every activity will go as planned!
haha please don’t think I am some super mummy who gets it right all the time as you could not be further form the truth! I like to blog about the failures as much as the successes to ease the pressure we all feel to be perfect and do well. It’s one of the reasons I started this blog – I am trying to become what I think of as a Stay at Home mum so I try a lot of things, sometimes I succeed, but other times I fail, miserably. All part of being a mummy I think! xx
Aww that’s fab x
thanks 🙂
Well done you for a pretty card! Well done Monkey for blobbing lots of glue. clever boy!
haha thanks 🙂
Oh I remember being such a control freak when my kids were crafting as toddlers. I had to take over otherwise I was going to be disappointed – I’m such a rubbish mother for that! 😉
They’re lovely though!
Ha ha yeah I think I’ve learned to just see what he does with things, rather than go into it with an idea of what I want him to make. Much less disappointment that way! 🙂 Xx
Grace & Lucas say – we think Monkey is one of the collest little guys EVER!!! We are loving his work and think his little ‘moment’ was because definitely artistic temperament!!! Thanks for linking to #minicreations
haha thanks, I like that, his ‘moment’ makes such more sense to me now! Thanks guys! 🙂 xx
Great to see we’re not the only ones where things don’t go according to plan. Mine are usually kitchen related, the oven is not my friend! 🙂
haha things definitely don’t always go to plan in this house – you should see the swiss roll we made last week, disaster haha! 🙂 xx
I say he had fun with the glue, so it wasn’t an all out fail. Next time maybe try putting a little glue into a dish so he can use the paintbrush to paint it on. That’s what I do here with my 6 y.o. who has no idea what “a little bit” of anything is!
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Lol, love it! I often have the same problem – I have a great idea for a craft project that I think J will love but it never quite works out how I expect! Love the photos and looks like Monkey had a lot of fun with the glue 🙂
phew, glad it’s not just me! 😉 he did have a lot of fun though which I guess is the main thing 😉 xx