The Lillstreet Art Center Clay Workshop

 A couple of weeks back I had written about the workshop on making ceramic ornaments to decorate our tree or give as stocking stuffers, we were to attend at the Lillstreet Art Center. We went for the same this past Sunday and it was such a hit with kids and extremely relaxing and fun for me and my husband as well. I'll first walk you through some pictures and then tell you a little more about the place.

 First we pounded the clay and threw it and pounded and threw to make a slab big and thin. This in itself was such a fascinating process for both the kids.

 Then we used several cookie cutters to cut out interesting shapes - stars, leaves, snowmen, hearts, gingerbread man. The kids found it hard to stop at a three dozen cut outs at this step.

 Then we painted the ornaments we had cut out, made some textures with pointed sticks or blocks and made a hole on top to string through later.

These are now ready to be bisque fired and the Lillstreet people will call us back to pick them up when they are ready.








It was a great experience and two hours passed by so fast. Chica, my 4 year old wanted to stay there longer and keep doing more. Fortunately, I was able to whisk her out of the room to show her the other interesting things happening in other parts of the art center. This was the first one we went to - it looked, smelled and felt very different from any other place we have been to. There were so many pots, paints, sculptures, bowls, plates and the likes lying around on many many shelves. All the people there, mostly artists working on different things seemed very relaxed and very friendly stopping by in the room that we were working in, when they came there to pick something they needed, and encouraging the children at the great job they were doing. And all the children in the workshop - 2 of mine and 2 more worked so neatly and with such rapt attention, it was lovely to watch them. The kids on their way out watched in such fascination a lady working on a potter's wheel. My son remarked, "Oh! So that's how a pot gets made!" I love remarks like these when kids realize something they had used regularly but never lent a thought to, now know where it comes from :)

I had linked to the various workshops that the Lillstreet people offer for kids as well as adults. Some of them are scheduled on Saturdays and are just $10 a person. The center is well worth a visit for an experience which is not easily available at home.

We now can't wait to collect them from the Art Center in a couple of weeks!

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Woolly Sheep

We did a fun simple craft last evening and made a pair of woolly sheep. The best part was we didn't need any fancy supplies, we simply raided our bathroom cabinet and got ready for the fun.

We used:

• toilet paper rolls
• cotton buds
• tape
• cotton wool balls
• glue
• tissue paper
• black marker
• cheerios

We proceeded as follows :





1. We taped the cotton buds on the cardboard rolls to make legs.








2. I poured some white glue into a shallow dish. Then we dipped the cotton wool balls into the glue and stuck them all around the cardboard roll.





3. Next we scrunched up some tissue paper/kitchen towel and stuffed it into one end of the roll to make the head.

4. I had some black paper lying there, so I made small eyes out of it since Vansh was enjoying sticking with glue. You could also use a black marker like I did for the mouth.






5. Vansh smiled proudly, mighty pleased with his latest creation.








6. I wondered what to do about the horns until it struck me to use the cheerios the kids were snacking on. Now the couple of sheep, the sturdy standing one and the lazy lying down one, adorn our TV set :)

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One of Vansh's favorite pastime ...

... looking at old pictures and recalling the incidents with a smile and lots of giggles;

one of mom's - Looking at that smiley lit up face, listening to those giggles and counting our blessings :)

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"Baby Dot and Stop"

We did this simple craft last night. Vansh enjoys using the scissors to cut. He's not yet perfect at it but he's surely getting the hang of it. He puts his thumb and fingers in there right but has to be reminded to keep his wrist straight and not tilt it sideways. And I pre-cut about 2" wide strips of colored construction paper which he then cuts into small pieces. We then took a tree template and started to put glue on the branches and the tree trunk and in order to avoid its over use, we kept repeating the phrase 'Baby dot and stop', Vansh's version being "Baby says Stop!" :) and then we stuck the leaves - green, yellow, orange and red and the brown pieces on the trunk. In the end, we had a lovely colorful tree and a beaming jubilant Vansh.

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Do you know who I like to pretend I am ...

...PAPA. My Superstar!!

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To each his own!

Huh!! I have finally concluded after several attemts and most of them failed ones at that, that Vansh has no interest in painting, coloring and the like, basically anything that would render his hands "un" spic and span is not worth the trouble and the mess. So while I excitedly made a mental note of a couple of activities involving finger painting with shaving foam and painting using straw and thread a few days back and enthusiastically set the stage for each one of those yesterday and even did them myself, ranting and raving about the amount of fun I was having all along, Vansh couldn't care less. He engrossed himself in playing with my cell phone. There was nothing a mom with her hands dirty with shaving foam could do about it, remember!!(Once he even senses an opportunity, we can rest assured he'll grab it, another example being, get a little over lovey and cuddly with him and without a single millisecond's delay, he'll make a request to watch his favorite movie 'Cars') Hmm ..so no interest in the shaving foam, let me try the painting with the straws and the threads, I thought. Vansh immersed himself in the toy catalogs, an n number of which suddenly ram in the household with Christmas round the corner. (No cellphone this time round, mom's hands were not dirty enough!!) After listening to my constant "Wow's!! and what fun!!" here's what he decided to do: After all I was having so much fun


After a while he did decide to paint just a bit using a clothespin and sponge piece, so that the paint remains as far from his hand as possible till this happened and that was the end of it!

Well, pretty discouraged at the end of it all, I still tried to look for that silver lining by remembering this story title 'Animal School' I had read earlier in the day :

Once upon a time the animals had a school. They had to create a curriculum that would satisfy everyone, so they chose four subjects: running, climbing, flying, and swimming. All the animals, of course, studied all the subjects.
The duck was very good at swimming, better than the teacher, in fact. He received passing grades in running and flying, but was hopeless in climbing, so they made him drop swimming so that he could practice climbing. After a while he was only average at swimming, but average is still acceptable, at least in school, and nobody worried much about it except the duck.
The eagle was considered a troublemaker. In his climbing class he beat everybody to the top of the tree, but he had his own way of getting there that was against the rules. He always had to stay after school and write, "Cheating is wrong," five hundred times. This kept him from soaring, which he loved, but schoolwork comes first.
The bear flunked because they said he was lazy, especially in the winter. His best time was summer, but school wasn't open then.
The zebra played hooky a lot because the ponies made fun of his stripes, and this made him very sad.
The kangaroo started out at the top of the racing class, but became discouraged when was told to move swiftly on all four legs the way his classmates did.
The fish quit school because he was bored. To him, all four subjects were the same, but nobody understood that because they had never seen a fish.
The squirrel got an A in climbing, but his flying teacher made him start from the ground up, instead of from the treetop down. His legs got so sore practicing takeoffs that he began getting Cs in climbing and Ds in running.
The bee was the biggest problem of all, so the teacher sent him to Doctor Owl for testing. Doctor Owl said that the bee's wings were too small for flying and they were in the wrong place. The bee never saw Doctor Owl's report, so he just went ahead and flew anyway. I think I know a bee or two, how about you?

So I guess now I'll just let him be and play with cell phones and laptops all he wants, hoping that one day he'll end up as a 'product designer' for Apple or if he wants to look at all those catalogs and become a toy salesman one day, thats fine too!!

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Happy Halloween!!

... to all little trick-or-treater's out there. Even though we do not know the actual significance of the festival but are taking it as an opportunity to have some fun :) Vansh is a pirate and Jiya a little pumpkin this year. We had a halloween party last week. Vansh was happy running around in his costume with a few more of his dressed up friends. Yesterday a few of the kids' friends were over for a playdate and we decorated paper pumpkins. At ECFE too, its dress up day today. In the evening, we shall also go to the closeby mall for some music and celebrations and some trick-or-treating. We also have a Happy Halloween picture outside our apartment door which we got from the apartment management yesterday to put up if we want to give out treats to the other kids. Vansh thought putting up his creation alongside would be a good idea. I still have to explain how to trick or treat around but am pretty sure he'll catch it immediately, what with all that fascination for 'lollipops' these days. He'll do everything in his might to get so many of those. More pictures follow...

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I am a busy boy!!

My day begins with beating eggs and toasting the bread for breakfast.

Unloading the dishwasher and stacking the dishes comes next!

I sweep the floors and make sure to leave no corners unbroomed!

Laundry comes next on my list of tasks. Sorting whites and colors is what I have to pay special attention to.

Chopping onions and tomatoes for the meals! Heating up the dishes before serving is one of the easy ones!!

I know you are exhausted just by looking at me work so hard. But that's just half the day!

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A few illnesses and then ...

Vansh came down with a bout of illnesses the past week. First it was the stomach flu accompanied by fever and then a short (thankfully) stint with a cough and a cold. While reading about the stomach flu on babycenter.com, I realised that the American Academy of Pediatrics has done away with the BRAT (Bananas, Rice, Apples and Toast) diet for kids who catch the flu because because "it lacks protein and other vital nutrients. Studies show that reintroducing a standard diet soon after acute symptoms ease can actually shorten a child's bout of gastroenteritis by half a day because it restores nutrients to the system that are necessary to fight infection. On the other hand, if the bug kills your child's appetite and she misses a few days of good nutrition, don't worry. As long as she's hydrated, she'll be fine." So basically it was lots of water and lots of rest which helped Vansh recover. Milk and chapati were making him throw up immediately. And he totally lost his appetite which resulted in once again switching on the idiot box in an attempt to feed him something.

Salt and pepper paranthi with soup, Maggi noodles with vegetables for lunch and a mommy made vegetable pizza (with whole grain bread serving as the pizza base) for dinner on Sunday helped refresh his sluggish taste buds. Ginger juice mixed with honey and given a quick boil, as always, did the trick for the cough and cold. Vaporiser switched on at night with a quick rub with Vicks on the chest took care of the slight congestion. Bundling up for a short trip to the park lifted the crabby spirits.

Pampered with all the attention and having the control a 2 year old so craves for (read switching on a favorite movie when he wanted us to); this week is being spent on getting him back to his usual routine without the TV. Never before have I found the idiot box so idiotic. One day of over exposure (and that too just about 2 hours) totally knocks off Vansh's attention span and willingness to play independently. Every 10 minutes or so he'll come and ask me to switch on the TV for him. The outings are also limited now owing to pretty cold and mucky weather outside. So we are trying to do lots of activities together to keep us happy and playful. There are no short cuts I have learnt when you want our strong headed little guy to behave right. He needs quality one-on-one time and loads of it to keep him from wandering into rough terrain!! His latest favorite - making every possible thing in sight - rattles, washcloths, soft toys, cars, pass the basketball hoop test :)

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Apple tree craft

We hosted an apple tree craft activity today for our MOMS club friends. A couple of my friends and their kids were over. The big old forgetful one that I am being these days, it struck me that I should have taken pictures only after they left. So I engaged Vansh once again and took a few :)

We used -

- a tree template

- Tempera poster paints (I got a great idea of mixing some liquid soap in the paint to make it easily washable from clothes, etc)

- small sponge pieces

- clothepin to hold the sponge pieces

- duct tape taped to the end of a pen to paint small apples

And here's what we got :

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The wonder named ECFE!

I cannot stop raving about the marvels of ECFE this year and its not without reason. It was incredible to observe the kids in their classroom from the parent room today at. Stephanie, the parent educator has told us that we shall be having such observation sessions every 2-3 weeks where in we switch off the lights in our room so the view in the adjoining well lit children's room is absolutely clear. So about 15 minutes prior to the class ending, Miss Nadi, the kids' superstar teacher tapped the window to signal that we could begin observing. I almost let out a squeak on seeing each and every child sitting on a chair assigned to him/her and looking at Miss Nadi with rapt attention. As she later told us (we could see them but not hear whats going on), she was hiding a felt worm cut out behind one of the apples out of three while asking the kids to shut their eyes (which only about 3 were doing) and then asking them to guess where it was - asking them questions like "Is it behind this one?" and encouraging them to answer "No", "No" and eventually "Yes!" and clapping and squealing with delight! We also saw little felt apples in each child's hand which they had to hand back to Miss Nadi at the end of the group activity when there name was called. As soon as she asked them to do that, 2-3 kids started walking all at once to her but they were asked to get back and wait for their name to be called. Finally they were asked to return their little chairs to their original place.

I was amazed at how well thought of and power packed little activites are here teaching such a variety of skills - listening, observing closely, following instructiions, using their imaginations, waiting for their turn, adding new words to their vocab - to name just a few. And it was impossible for most of us moms to believe that our child was capable of doing that.

I now wait so eagerly for the sound monitoring where a nursery monitor would be placed in the kids' room with the receiver in our room so that we can hear what all is going on.

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Guess who's practising his photographing skills!!

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All I need when I dance is ...

A dance partner

and an appreciative audience

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Rattle fun!

Got the idea from 'Teletubbies', one of Vansh's favorite TV shows and took out 2 types of dals (lentils) amd rajma (kidney beans), a few bottles, cups and spoons, made a couple of paper funnels and Vansh was ready to practise his fine motor skills to spoon the dals inside the bottles using the funnels and shake, shake, shake :)

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