Productive in the off season

As a point of sanity for myself (trust me, it's completely selfish...) I've been trying to keep the children busy with plenty of activities. At this age they love stories, songs, coloring, art projects, park time...etc.

We've been listening to the Standin' Tall tapes that I had a child. I've been downloading them into digital form onto my computer so when the tapes finally all give out we'll still be able to enjoy them. The coloring books I had, which surprisingly enough never got colored in, are used as masters for making photocopies for the kids to color. We've listened most recently to Cleanliness, Dependability and Self Esteem. The songs really get through to the kids in a way no amount of my naggy repetition could.

We were listening to the one about keeping your fingernails clean. I was making up little hand signs as we went along. Elle was SO intent on watching me and following along. They were singing about not biting your fingernails, which I wanted to emphasize with her since she's started doing it.

I really need to take advantage of this stage while I still have it figured out. Music works!

Another project we started was to make paper-mache puppets. Ethan and Elle did really well on making their layers. Hunter had a harder time. He tried doing both a small and a big balloon. I don't think he liked having his hands all goopy. After we put on a couple of layers we'll white wash the outside and then paint either faces or some other design for a piñata.