One of the many great joys of parenting has been making crafts with my children. Parenting reaffirmed the idea that it is ok to color, play with play-dough, draw stick figures, create flowers from pipe cleaners, draw outside the lines… all the fun things my post-grad-self had decided she was too cool for.
My youngest is always wanting to craft. His mind is always thinking of the next thing he can create. I love to make crafts with him, but I have to admit that, with his insatiable desire to create, it’s nice to find things that I can set up for him and let him just go to town. (Not to mention, I think it’s so good for him to create without me hovering!)
He’s been wanting to make Halloween crafts for several weeks, so I checked out the internet for ideas and came across these adorable crafts at Artsy Momma that utilize the toilet paper rolls I had been saving (because, CARDBOARD).
So, I printed out images and notes from Artsy Momma’s post, and I set out the toilet paper rolls, scissors, glue, paints and brushes, googly eyes and construction paper and then set him free with it all, to create his own version:
He painted the rolls different colors: orange for pumpkins, black for bats, white for ghosts and mummies, blue for alien, green for Frankenstein’s monster.
Part of letting him do it on his own, was letting him figure out how to place things, and how to recreate what he wanted (rather than me telling him what to do.) Therefore, his mummy had black lines painted to show the mummy wrapping, rather than with tissue.
(*Note: my son just turned 8; adjust your level of help accordingly)
It was fun to see how he made each one and gave them their own personality. They were so simple, and I think they are adorable!
I’d love to hear what you are doing for Halloween. Do you make your own stuff, or purchase (neither one is superior – for realz!) Fill me in and give me the deets. My crafty child wants to know the 411.
