The Changing Landscape of Art Projects

A long time ago, a time before the twins, I used to do art and crafts with the boys every other day. Nothing elaborate but we had a grand time with crayons, paint and do-dads. In the past two years, it hasn't been the case. The boys wanted to do more elaborate crafts and the girls were plain crafty. *grinz*

So I discussed it with the boys and we came to an agreement. They would continue to do crafts independently. My main job was to protect their workspace from the toddlers. They only had to promise to clean up. The system worked with a rough start on the clean up part. *grinz*

It has been a year since the arrangement and it has been going along beautifully. Each boy has one craft resource book in their school bag. It hasn't been practical to include ideas from websites and blogs so I've deleted my subscriptions to those. As long as they finished their assignments, they were free to pursue or not pursue a craft of their choosing. The materials needed are stored in their school bag:-

Crayons
Coloring pencils
Pencils
Erasers
Watercolor paint pans
Paintbrushes
Clean yogurt cup (to store water for the paint)
Scissors
Elmer glue
Glue stick
Scotch tape
Plain and colored cardstock

I've got a small container of less-used craft materials They are:-
Beeswax (replaces modeling magic, clay etc)
Tissue paper
Embroidery thread
A glue gun

They can ransack the recycling bin if they need egg cartons and cardboard etc.

C., my First Grader, works in a separate room for one-and-a-half hours. During which, he usually completes one art project and/or drawing project. All I have to do is gush over his creations. B., my preschooler, also works on his art project relatively independently. He does his at the end of his school hour at the kitchen table while I prepare lunch. That way, I'm nearby should he need help like folding his paper into a cone.

Because of the independent nature of the activity, I've had to let go of resources that weren't appealing to them. Those that remained were:-

Ray Gibson's Usborne Big Book of Art Acitivities
Kumon Easy/Amazing Crafts.

Now that my older kid has exhausted these resources, I'm looking into:-
Fiona Watt's Usborne Book of Art Projects (Can you see an Usborne theme here?)
The Never Bored Kid books.

These craft resource books compliments art skill books such as:-
Kumon Mazes series
Tracing from CHC's How to Draw
Art with a Purpose

Every Friday, I can rest easy because I have prepared one small seasonally appropriate activity to be done with the boys. This week's are gifts for the grandmothers. *smilez* My resources for these are:-
Mrs Sharp's Traditions by Sarah Ban Breathnach
Catholic Icing blog

Keeping with the simple theme, I tend to choose things that won't be stored for long. *grinz*