BLOG POST FRAMED!
From June 2017 to April 15th,
2019, I enjoyed an incredible and rare gift. If your offspring live in a
different town or a different state,
grandparents and grandkids don’t have the profoundly valuable experience
of seeing each other every day.
My beloved Owen and his mom came to live with us
for twenty-two months. For all that time, I got to see Owen every day.
Three days a week I picked him up from
preschool and got to see and hear the world thorough his eyes on the way home. Then
we got to play and do after school activities.
We raced Lighting McQueen and Cruz cars.
We blew bubbles. We kicked a soccer ball.
He got to ride his tricycle with Gram
hovering close by. We did table activities, for example, using tongs to pick up
cotton balls and putting them into plastic Easter eggs. We played hide and seek
with those eggs: I would hide a little item in one and scramble them to see if Owen
could find the prize.
We had story time. I read to him Shel
Silverstein’s books of poetry for kids. We had fun!
With my own children –last century—we did
similar things, but different. For example, we made placemats for every season
for every holiday. With my almost twin daughters (ages 3 and 4) each strapped
into their highchairs around the dining room table, I put the craft stuff out.
We had finger paint, cut outs from
magazines, water-based markers, crayons, glitter, glue and whatever other items
were handy in our Family Craft Box. My son who was 8 and I – all of us—created to
our hearts content.
For Fourth of July, we had flag stickers
along with red, white, and blue markers and paints. Easter: well you can
imagine, eggs, crosses, baskets, bunnies. For fall, leaves ; for Advent,
candles three purple and one pink and one white … and so on.
With the Coronavirus Pause, you parents,
family members to young kids, have a unique opportunity. It will most likely
never happen again. You have TIME. You have time to have creative activity time
with your kids or grandkids.
The array of options for afternoon
activities is limited only by your own imagination or what you can Google. After
kids have done their classes by ZOOM or FaceTime, kids need a completely different
outlet.
They need the reassurance of time with
family that is calm and focused on what is in front of them. They need to do something
with their hands.
They need the opportunity to create, to
accomplish, to produce something they can give to you or another loved one,
that they can hang up on the refrigerator or in their rooms. Even better, they
can send these unique creations to far away Grams and Grandpas to keep those
vital relationships strong.
This morning, I was about to toss an empty Corn
Flakes box, when I asked myself, “What else might I do besides consign the box
to the trash or even recycling?” I came up with the following options.
Bookmarks
Cut the box
into strips about two inches or so wide. Decorate them to your hearts content.
Seal them with tape when you are done. You have something you can use; a gift
you or your kids can give or display.
Bible
Bookmarks
Don’t ever
throw away real ribbons. Using a piece of the box that is narrow enough to fit
into the space between the pages of your Bible and the cover. Take several
ribbons and attach them to the cardboard. You can staple them, or glue them,
and seal the connections with mailing tape—or not.
Insert the cardboard
piece into that space on the back of your Bible and then you can use the
ribbons to mark passages in your Bible or your child’s or grandchild’s favorite
story pages in their Bibles or Bible story books, for example.
Photo
Frames
Using scissors or a utility knife, cut out a
rectangle and then cut a rectangle within it, so what you have left is frame. Taking
a
4” X 6” photograph
or a Mother’s Day Postcard and adjust the cut-out rectangle to fit.
I used a gold marker, a red pen, and
heart stickers to decorate my frame. And, viola!
I have a picture of my older daughter that
she made in first grade in a frame that she made at school. That frame is based
on a cardboard rectangle which was then covered with fabric, stuffed with
cotton, and glued on the back.
A slip of ribbon was attached to make a
hanger. The corners were decorated with eyelet border.
You can do this with your child or
grandchild. You can do this solo, for fun, for your own peace of mind.
You can let your creative juices
flow. Creating something causes the release of endorphins, natural “feel-good hormones”, just
like you get when you work out—only, with these creative adventures, you don’t have
to break a sweat!
If you decide to make a frame, let me know. Add
a photo to your comment if you like.
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Thank you.
Happy creating!
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