He had a lot of ideas--most of which were very creative and beyond the scope of my skills--and I did a lot of "uh-huhing" and then did what was feasible. He'd notice after awhile and say, "You know I really don't care which color blue you use for the water. Any color will do." That was after he had vetoed the only color blue I had and I used it anyway. He did put the kabosh on my plans for grass because he said grass had not evolved yet. So I informed him that those green patches were not grass but moss. We got out his books and saw that ferns were pretty rampant so we're trying to devise a way to make some sturdy ferns that can survive the rough and tumble treatment they'll get on a playmat. Maybe I'll use a fern print fabric. With the maestro's permission, of course.
We made it useable and when time permits, we'll go back and embroider more details if we feel like it. He spread it on his bedroom floor and is having a good time playing dinosaurs! One great thing about my son is he has a lot of enthusiasm and a boatload of imagination no matter what he does!He also wanted a volcano. So we mixed up a batch of papier mache paste (5 cups of water boiled, then add 1 cup of flour and boil for 2-3 minutes more--stirring all the time. Mine was stubbornly lumpy so I poured it through the strainer.)and let it cool.
Sam tore lots of newspaper strips and we covered a little plastic bucket with a plastic bag and used masking tape to adhere some crumpled paper to give a more volcanic shape. Meanwhile, Sadie and I took an empty wine cooler bottle, topped it with a burnt out light bulb and taped it all together. We crumpled up a bit of paper for a muzzle and taped it in place. We decided on felt ears after its done.
I put them near the woodburning stove that we've had going non-stop this weekend in the hopes they'll dry out enough so they can paint them on Martin Luther King Day.So that was our crafty Saturday.
