Live “outside of the box” with our quarantine kids

I had an idea for this weekend’s post BUT I changed my mind and decided to post this blog instead. One thing I realized during this quarantine period is that the kids’ lives and routines have been greatly disrupted. I don’t have kids in school any more but I cannot imagine what parents of such kids are going through with home schooling their kids. MAJOR KUDOS to you all! However I do have a 3 1/2 year old granddaughter and her daycare has been closed. Her routine has been disrupted. We didn’t get a “lesson plan” to continue with her so this time has been a “free for all” for her. I was concerned about what this lag in time being with her teachers and her classmates would do to her. SO….I decided to “let go” and “get over” any mess we created….because all we have is TIME to clean up!

I knew I couldn’t take the place of her teachers….think about it…..how long would she sit still with me to relearn her ABCs…..SO I decided to “go extreme” and expose her to some messy stuff that she does not get to be around a lot.

We took out some art supplies and let her be creative. Please note that she picked out the colors and “that meant the world” to her.

She REALLY got into painting and glitter! You would have thought I just gave her a unicorn! I realized she did better if we tore out a page from a coloring book. There was something for her to follow. I noticed after a period of time her motor skills were improving. She was trying to stay in the lines and her brain was processing each next step.

The “icing on the cake” was at the end when she was to apply the glitter (she actually calls them “sprinkles”). At first it was just random sprinkles here and there. NOW the concentration in her face with each sprinkle is amazing. She has a vision and is trying to execute it.

Here are some of her latest artworks……

These mater pieces may not seem like a lot to you BUT they are GOLD to us and her! NOTE: Glitter does NOT stick to the paper all the time. ONE trick I learned is that I took some extreme hold hair spray and sprayed it on top of her paintings. Once it dried the glitter did not fall off! She now understands that and makes sure to remind me to get the “spray hair” after she finishes her master pieces so we can spray per paintings.

I am not posting this to brag on my granddaughter’s artwork. I am posting this to make sure we consider the littler ones’ disruptions and make sure we spend time “living outside of the box” with them. We can do this by exposing them to things we wouldn’t normally expose them to (because I can tell you I had hidden that glitter from her for a LONG time….I was dreading the day someone would introduce it to her…..well, that someone was ME!). I was amazed at what skills she picked up by just doing this painting with glitter!!!

I wish you all good health and stay safe!

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