Happy New Year, Home Edders!
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebration and are all ready to face 2023 head-on.
How are you guys getting the energy up in the homeschool now that the holidays are over? Or did you even have Christmas break in your homeschool? We used not to take long breaks for the holidays -- we practically homeschool "all year round", but last December, I asked approval from our "principal" (the dad) if we could take two weeks of break leading to the New Year, and yay, he agreed!
Then they got bored...
The little humans got bored of "not doing anything" during our break, especially when we do not have any outdoor activities. Fortunately, we got some books that we borrowed from Children's Library that got us covered.
Monster Eyes in December!
Let's just call this, "Our Post-Halloween Project".
I asked the kids what they wanted to do and they suggested we make some play dough projects.
There's an activity in the book that showed how to make monster magnets. We did not go all out and added magnets to our work simply because we do not have the materials. :D
Our reference:
The book is called Clay Lab for Kids by Cassie Stephens. It has over 50 clay projects to make, including a few pieces of information about different kinds of clay and even how to make yours at home.
Homemade Playdough
The kids' interest in playdough has not dwindled through the years. Many times, playdough saves the day in our homeschool. Recently, they asked if we can just buy clay from the store for they think that would be nicer. I started making homemade playdough using all-purpose flour, salt, cornstarch, and hot water when these kids were still tiny humans to avoid accidental toxic ingestion because as we know little kids tend to put just about anything in their mouths.
Of course, this time, homemade playdough still won. Why buy when you can make, right? I made a considerably big batch (about two cups of flour) and instead of pre-coloring the dough with food color, we decided to just use acrylic paint.
Little Man chose the "wide-orange monster eye" and the "droopy eye" for his project. Little Miss made another "droopy eye" to pair, plus a mouth and mustache!
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Discovering his artistic side
While Litte Miss is always the arts and crafts enthusiast, I cannot say the exact thing for my boys. Getting them engaged in this kind of activity is already a big plus for me. It also boosts Little Man's confidence in arts especially when he sees his finished craft.
Mommy's turn.
Meanwhile, this activity cannot end without a piece from this Mommy. Art is therapeutic for me since I get to "my zone", just focusing on the task at hand and nothing else. I wish I can devote more time to crocheting again, too, in the near future. Arts and craft is really satisfying and healing for me.
Here's a playdough cactus, also inspired by the Clay Lab for Kids book. I was supposed to make a few pieces, but... riiiiiinggggg!
Time's up.
There are other things waiting to be done. Perhaps another time...
All photos are by the author.
I always thought holidays just meant nothing was planned not that nothing was done XD least that's how it rolls here, any kids that complain about being bored get given chores to do so they usually find something better to do really quickly XD
Playdough was a favourite here too, and every now and again the clay comes out (though it's been a while and I'm not sure if it's still malleable :S).
You should definitely remember to make more time to do your own art ;D
Haha. Exactly. 😂 But I still thought that these kids of mine would just make me insane that during the first week off, I sort of looked for new parks to visit. The following week was for Christmas-y stuff like Christmas village and festivals. Still tried to minimize trips to 2x a week though coz it's so tiring even if it's just within the city.
I really have to. Thanks. 😍
I hear you on the twice weekly trips! I remember being exhausted taking kids out everywhere XD That at least eased up when they got older, they tend to do a lot more of their own thing so now we're doing more expensive trips much less frequently.
Working with play dough is a lot of fun for children, it has a relaxing effect and allows them to develop their creative potential, my son likes to mold and make his favorite characters.
Happy day!
I didn't know about this DIY playdough! Thanks for mentioning, will suggest that to my sisters.
And your kids outputs are excellent!
Oh the homemade playdough saves my pocket! 😂 It's not very hard to make and everything needed is in the kitchen already. The only down side is that, since it's food-based, it (unused) could go sour and bad in a few days. I don't remember the finished project go bad since it air dries. Or in summer, we let them "bake under the sun". Anyway, since my kids mostly only finds fun in the molding and kneading part, we barely notice what happens to the left overs. 😅
Very good activity to start creativity and motor skills.
Greetings and blessings