Arts and Crafts Thursday: 2 for 1

I forgot to post about our A&C day last week. Which is too bad, because it was pretty cool. As a little background, the boys love to "help" me sew. Their past loves are: coloring on scrap pieces of fabric with taylor's chalk and fabric markers, measuring stuff with my measuring tape, and "sewing" with yarn, a giant tapestry needle, and that holey, plastic canvas stuff that old ladies use to make tissue box covers and the like.

Both boys have been showing a current obsession with my sewing machine. In fact, they find it nearly impossible to keep their little hands off the thing when I've got it out. So, we all thought it would be fun if I taught them a little about the parts of a sewing machine and helped them to sew something for reals. I suggested little pillows in the form of each of their initials, they agreed, and we were off. Since I couldn't simultaneously take pictures and help with the sewing (i.e., make sure that nobody ended up with a needle in their finger), a picture of the end product, and not the process, will have to suffice:

In hindsight, an full-on project was a little much for my 3 and 4 year-old guys. They helped out with all of the actual sewing, but I got stuck with the cutting, turning, and stuffing. Next time we try this, I think we'll just stick with stitching random patterns on scraps of fabric and we'll save the actual making of stuff until they've got longer attention spans. But it was still lots of fun...

Okay, for this week's A&C project, you'll need to look very closely at the pictures-- they're kinda hard to see. We drew body outlines of the boys on our giganto roll of paper (thanks Aunt Mandy!!) and let them fill in the details. Daniel wanted to be a mermaid, and Lincoln a racecar driver. They were both so thrilled with the results that they wanted them hung up in their bedroom as a permanent exhibit.