Crafty Rainy Days

It has been raining for the last 2 days. I do love the rain very much so that was just fine with me.  I was also very tired from my week at the office and wanted only one thing: to relax at home, with my feet up and read books, and not go outside this weekend.  I gained 14 lbs since the start of my pregnancy but I do feel a lot heavier and it is now more difficult to move quickly around compared to before.

But my nephews were bored out of their mind.  I had no energy left to do anything with them so I took out my stash of cardboard box, paper towel rolls, scissors and paints and let them have a crafty rainy day.

Well it turned out just great.  They kept themselves busy and quietly worked on their project!  They looked up many photos of airplanes from the internet and used those models as base.  The oldest helped the younger ones quite a lot so they were able to learn new tricks and create these very interesting airplanes.   

This is a B-17 Marine Bomber.  It's not painted yet because it took so long to finish.

This is apparently a Star Wars X-Wing Fighter. The glue wouldn't work so they used tape for this one.

This is a WW2 bomber ...but I am not sure as the kid wasn't sure himself :P

To avoid the eventual mess after each crafty activities, I usually cover the table with a plastic tablecloth (sold in the party/birthday section of most stores). So after they finish, all you need to do is just gather up the corners of the tablecloth and throw away whatever trash is left on the table.  That saves me a lot of time cleaning up paint stains or throwing away itsy bitsy pieces of cardboard and paper.

I previously taught the kids how to clean up the table and how to use a broom and dustpan so they can take turn cleaning up after each messy activity (crafts, playdough, painting, etc).  I thought at first that they would not like that extra responsibility but it turned out that they actually love to clean up now that they know exactly what to do.

And the best part, I don't even have to assign the chores: they talk among themselves and decide who will clean up the table, who will sweep, etc.  And they do a pretty darn good job too. This sure taught me to never underestimate children's willingness to learn and improve.  With the sense of accomplishment for having done something useful, comes also the sense of pride for being able to do it well.