The Artful Parent

Typewriters: obsolete but oh so fun

We have a new toy tool in the house. A typewriter! It's only been a week or so, but it's gotten just about nonstop use during that time. Maia loves it. Daphne loves it. All the kids who come over want to type on it.

I picked the typewriter up at the thrift store for five bucks last fall. My plan was to give it to Maia as a Christmas gift, but for some reason I had a bit of a mental block over it. It took me over six months to sit down and figure out what kind of typewriter ribbon it needed and then to go buy it. Why did I think it would be so complicated? It was actually super easy.

Do you want to know why I bought a typewriter? I had visions of Maia sitting down and writing letters to her grandma and creating her own little books. I thought it would be fun, sure, but I also thought it would be a novel way for her to work on her writing.

Has she written any letters or books yet? Uh, noooo... Instead there is a stack of papers that look much like this one--gobbledegook. She mostly just has fun banging away on the keys as fast as she can. She gets a kick out of asking me to read them and then bends over double laughing when I sound it all out.

While I'm kind of wishing she would write something "real" on it, I'm reminding myself to just let her play. I love seeing her have so much fun with it. And knowing her, the writing will come eventually when she's inspired and not because I want her to do it.

Flowers in the garden and in the studio

Say hello to some of the ladies in our garden.

Okay, so these photos were taken a few weeks ago and some of the flowers have since faded from the garden scene. But they sure make me happy! As do all the flower related art we do around here.

Here's a slideshow (I'm experimenting!) and a list of some of the flower art we've done:

Flower Art - slideshow dvd

• flower art box
• flower fairy wings
• flower printing with liquid watercolors
• flower prints in sculpey and playdough
• a flower mandala
• flower petal stained glass door
• flower crowns
• painted daisies

Feel free to share a link or description of your own flower art or craft in the comments!

Nurture or Nature: Are we born creative?

Okay friends. Come in and have a seat. I'm passing a plate of brownies again (do you like yours fudgy? these are fudgy). I also have a big bowl of fresh cherries. Mmm. Oh, and while we're at it, we'll just pretend I have air conditioning and that it's nice and cool in here. We're going to catch up a bit first (how've you been doing?) and then dive into another discussion about creativity (here's the first one, in case you missed it). Because I have another quote that I'd like to ponder and discuss with you.

Creativity is a characteristic given to all human beings at birth. - Abraham Maslow

What do you think? True or false? Is our creativity more about the genes we were born with or more about the environment in which we are raised? Or some of both?

I'll go first, but I'm not going to pretend I have all the answers. I may change what I think after hearing what all of you have to say.

I think it's true that everyone is born with the potential to be creative. I think it's part of being human. But I also think that creativity is a delicate flame that needs to be nurtured and fanned in order for it to grow and be realized. So my answer is nature and nurture.

This is something I think about a lot (and one of the reasons I do a lot of what I do).

When you read about the upbringings of creative people, of artists and writers and musicians, you see some who were raised in incredibly creative environments. Picasso was especially encouraged by his father, also an artist, from a young age. His father provided art materials and guidance and praise. And Mozart’s story is legendary for the encouragement and attention his father gave his musical education from a very young age. (For the sake of simplicity I'm keeping this list to those who are creative in the arts even though I believe that people can be creative in any number of areas.)

BUT, you also see artists and other people who are creative despite their upbringing—despite all odds, sometimes. Frida Kahlo spent her childhood (and lifetime) in pain due to polio and later a serious accident. Andy Warhol’s childhood was plagued by poverty, shyness, and childhood illness. Michael Jackson was physically and emotionally abused as a child. I'm sure the list could go on and on.

So I have to conclude that it's not just environment. That creativity is inherent and can survive through adversity. Maybe it doesn't always, but it can. Or maybe it's that creativity can be jumpstarted by adversity as well as by the gentle encouragement of a nurturing, creative environment. I think it shows how resilient people are, and how resilient and universal the creative urge is. It’s the urge to live, really—the urge to be. And I think that creativity can be healing as well.

Okay, your turn. Are we born creative or raised creative? Answer from personal experience, from instinct, from reading, whatever...

Fabric postcards for novelty mail

Maia and I made these fabric postcards the other day, inspired by some I saw hanging up at our local fabric shop. I was surprised to find that it was okay to send these through the mail (since they are not only fabric but also thicker than the average postcard) but it is. The ones displayed at the fabric shop had even come from Australia and other far-away places through a postcard swap.

Fun!

Maia picked out the fabrics from my stash, decided on the fabric combinations, then sat on my lap while we sewed them together on the machine. The fern print is left over from when Maia and I did some leaf printing on fabric last year (she still wears that skirt!). And the ducklings are oldies from my love affair with freezer paper stencilling.

For the writing side, we just used a plain white cotton. And between the two fabric layers we sewed a firm fusible pellon as the stabilizer (Peltex 72F Double-Sided Fusible Ultra Firm Stabilizer) that I had left from making the art satchel.

Once our postcards were ready, we drew a line down the center of the plain white side, added our note to the left and an address to the right with sharpies.

If you decide to make some of these, please note that you can't use a regular postcard stamp. We took ours to the post office, partly because I didn't know what the postage would be and also just because I wanted to make sure they were really okay to mail. The postal clerk didn't bat an eye though -- just slapped a stamp on (wish I remembered which one) and dropped them in with the rest of the mail.

Ice Sculptures with Salt and Liquid Watercolors

This colorful salt and ice sculpture activity is an oldie but a goody. I've seen it around a fair bit, but we hadn't tried it ourselves until just recently.

Photos from the beach

From our time last week at Folly Beach, South Carolina:

(These last three photos were taken by Stella's mama.)

Forget crayons: 11 great art materials for toddlers

Crayons are the ubiquitous art material for young children, right? If there's one art material every family has on hand, it's probably crayons. But as widespread as they are, I don't feel they are the best art material for toddlers. You have to press hard to get bright color, the paper wrapper is a pain, and the skinny crayons just break so quickly.

So what art materials do I think are the best for toddlers? Here's a list of 11 we use regularly:

1. Washable markers, perhaps the little Crayola Pip-Squeaks. We keep our markers in a plaster marker holder as a toddler-friendly way to keep track of lids and markers. Note: I'm fine with the regular-sized chunky markers, but don’t like Crayola’s new black markers because toddlers don’t have the color cue to help them match lids with markers.
2. Crayola Twistables Slick Stix These are awesome for toddlers – much better than crayons – because they glide on smoothly with little pressure and the color is vibrant. They are basically oil pastels in a hard plastic case, making them easy to grip. You just twist up the pastel as you need more. I was going to say this makes them less likely to break than traditional oil pastels (which we also love), but I just had two break on me this morning and a friend had some break recently, too. So maybe my love affair with these is waning, or maybe we just got bad batches or something.
3. Playdough. We love homemade – here’s a recipe – but if you’re going to buy some, this all-natural playdough by Clementine Art is pretty awesome.
4. An Easel is a great way to let toddlers work standing up, as they do best, and to create a simple dedicated art space at the same time (a kid-sized table works well, too.) We’ve had our Melissa and Doug Deluxe Floor-Standing Wooden Easel for five years and still love it. Be sure to get A roll of Easel Paper for it.
5. Spill-Proof Paint Cups Keeps the paint off the table (floor, lap...) and also keeps it from drying out.
6. Chubby paint brushes, such as Jumbo Paint Brushes , are great for little hands.
7. Chalk (I like Melissa and Doug Jumbo Triangular Chalk Sticks—they are not as small and breakable as the skinny little pieces sold for chalkboards, but not as huge as sidewalk chalk). If you don’t have a chalkboard, you can use chalkboard paint on a wall or buy a chalkboard wall decal.
8. Colorations Simply Washable Tempera Paints If you’re only going to buy one kind of paint, this is what to get. If you want all-natural, then try the paints by Clementine Art.
9. Colorations Washable Finger Paint You can use tempera paint with your fingers, but finger paint has the perfect smooth texture for smearing around on paper and it stays moist for much longer.
10. Colorations Liquid Watercolors Because they are just gorgeous and vibrant. The traditional watercolor cakes are best for preschoolers on up.
11. A bottle of squeeze glue. Yes, they will squeeze and squeeze until there is a puddle of glue on their paper, but they will have so much fun doing it, and the glue is so cheap, that I think you ought to let them. Besides, it’s a good hand-strengthening exercise and helps with motor control. And you can bring out the collage materials to stick in the glue.

P.S. I wrote about our favorite toddler art materials a few years ago here. Some are still the same but some are different, and I thought it was time to update the list.

What's on your list of absolute favorite toddler art materials? Anything I'm missing?

(This post contains affiliate links.)

Babbling is harder than I thought

I've been writing over at Babble's new Toddler Times blog for a couple of weeks now. This is a lot harder than I thought. Not really the time thing. It's more that it's a different space and there is already a certain tone over there. And guidelines I need to follow (like add tags and try to write catchy titles). I'm still trying to wrap my head around all this -- it's definitely a learning curve and I'm still in the middle of it.

I'm kinda in a groove here, at The Artful Parent. I've been writing this blog for almost four years, and while anything goes in theory (it's my blog, after all), I have certain things I write about and certain ways I write about them. I guess I need to find that groove at Babble, too, and I shouldn't expect it to happen overnight. Don't get me wrong, I'm having fun doing it and am learning a lot.

Here's my question -- Do you want me to tell you when I post stuff on Babble? I've been posting links on facebook and twitter, but not on the blog. So do you want me to let you know on the blog (even just once a week) or just leave you to meander over if and when you are interested? I do have that Toddler Times Button over in the left sidebar that will lead you to all my posts over there...

Since we're on the subject, here are my Babble posts, starting with the most recent. I probably won't do this again. But come on over and read the ones that interest you, if you like...

Beach is Best for Toddler Sand and Water Play (includes a photo gallery of Daphne's new love affair with the beach)

Playopedia and Pinterest: Two Places to Find Fun Toddler Activities for Your Family

Make a Kitchen Table Playhouse with Playsilks

Cooking with Toddlers: Mini Fruit Gelatin Molds

The Little Little Girl with the Big Big Voice

11 Art Activities to Try with Your Toddler

Watermelon Pops: A Tasty Summer Treat

Paint Popsicles for Toddler Art Fun

Back from the beach!

We are back from a week at the beach. A wonderful week spent with friends -- playing, eating, talking, swimming. I'll post some photos soon! Right now we are in the midst of getting back into our home routines (and unpacking, tackling laundry piles, and vacuuming way too much sand out of the car).

Just for fun, here are photos from our past trips to Folly Beach:

I'm coming around (to love the beach)

Sewing at the beach

Sandcasting with plaster of paris

Our beach-themed summer nature table

At the beach with friends and family

Painted Daisies :: Another Artful Science Experiment

We finally dyed white flowers with food coloring! Or liquid watercolors, rather. This is one of two activities that remained undone from a list of 31 artful activities that I made two years ago. Maybe it just wasn't the right time before now. Yeah, that must be it.

We picked our daisies from the backyard and put each in a glass jar with an inch or so of water.

Then Maia added liquid watercolors to dye the flowers, one color per jar. Yellow. Magenta. Purple, Turquise. And then some red food coloring for the last flower since we were out of red liquid watercolors but wanted to try the color.

The flowers started changing color within the hour! I wasn't expecting such quick results. I thought it would be one of those subtle science experiments where the color changes very slightly over several days. But no, it changed fairly quickly.

It was really pretty fascinating. And I had to dredge up some basic biology to explain why the color in the water appears in the petals. About how the flowers suck water up through the stem and the water evaporates out of the petals, but the food coloring can't evaporate. I may even have used the word "transpiration" and I can just hope I said it in the right context.

By the end of the afternoon, all the flowers had taken on their paint colors to varying degrees, with blue being the star of the show.

Have you tried this? I'm loving all these artful science experiments!

10 More Science Experiments Kids Can Do At Home

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