This is how the kids have entertained themselves All Morning (& it’s still gong strong!). Bjørn crafted this makeshift rod and reel out of sticks and kitchen string.

One kid hangs the pole over the balcony and calls for the little fishies to come for their morning snack of pretend worms. The other child runs around like a crazy person, scavenging for little bits to hook on.

Once the prize has been securely attached they tug on the string so the fisher knows they’ve caught something.

Glorious fun! (over, and over, and over again)

Poor Maggie is home sick with a cold. The worst thing for a kid is being home when they don’t have enough energy to do all the active things they usually like to do. Today was full of “what can I do?” moments. Luckily, my girl spotted the plastic tray our apples had come in this week and asked if she could do something with it. (more…)

These past few weeks have been pretty busy for us. Miss M has signed on to do a school musical, her first ever, and rehearsals are three times a week for two hour stretches. My Man B has taken up piano lessons and spends most of his time practicing or learning as much as he can about his newfound passion — POKEMON. Little T has been napping constantly… which, honestly, has been giving me time to make a small dent in the housekeeping that I’m always behind on.

{update a few hours later: I just re-read that bit & I’m a little freaked out. I’ve only been home with the kids for 4.5 months after working full-time for about 20 years. This is what I wanted, but it’s still odd to read and know this person is me. Oh, and I’m wearing an apron! I’m totally in love with my apron. You should see my mini-van with all the kid crap stuff strewn about…}

Everyone is too wiped out for much crafting or much of anything else outside of that so I don’t have too many new projects to share just now.

Instead, I thought you might be interested to check out some of my all-time Favorite kid activity books. Let me know in the comments if there are others I should check out from the library.

I CAN MAKE A RAINBOW
The copy I have is one my Mom bought me when I was a kid and needed entertaining (it’s dated 1976!). I rediscovered this book when we visited her back East last summer and I have had such fun going though it again for ideas. At eight years old, Miss M is at the perfect age for a book like this. With 300 pages of fun ideas, she’s guaranteed to find a bit of inspiration on her own (leaving Mom a bit of time to chase the youngers).

NATURE’S ART IN A BOX
I bought this one for the kids a year ago for Christmas. I find it fun to give a quick glance through before heading out on a leafy adventure. We’ve made several of the projects described in the book and they are treasured mementos.

DOING ART TOGETHER
This is one for parents and teachers. I find it a bit academic — not especially light-hearted as I like my muses to be. HOWEVER, it is full of very detailed instruction for introducing young ones to Art. My only regret with the edition I have is that the images are in black and white. Color is almost always what catches my attention.

Getting it just right, originally uploaded by VeroC.

My husband and I are huge Andy Goldsworthy fans and often incorporate  elements of his work into projects for the children. We were in Nice, France last December and the rocks on the beach are (mostly) gray with white lines running through them. We set M&B to collecting and assembling their rocks to form a seamless circle of white.

PS. a friend of mine mentioned that he had not heard of Goldsworthy before reading this post, so I’ve added a link to an incredible documentary about him. Both M&B (ages 7&5 enjoyed this one, so it’s something you can watch "en famille".