The Kid loves crafts. All sorts of crafts. Millions of crafts.
I dislike anything I perceive as clutter, so this is a constant balancing act.
But a few things that she has really taken to:
Finger Knitting. We started with this Klutz book and a couple of YouTube videos to get started last winter, and she's made piles of yarn creations since.
Weaving Loom. She received this one as a gift last winter from her grandfather. It takes a lot of patience, so there's not a lot being done with it. She is working on a scarf for herself that will take her about a month if she works on it nightly.
Knot A Quilt. She was just dying for this, and has gotten a start on it before getting distracted by all the other crafts around. She'll go back to it once the "new" has worn off some of the other stuff.
Green Kid Crafts. This is a monthly craft box subscription. I have mixed feelings about it - $20 and she's usually only kept occupied for a couple hours, so I don't see us continuing past the three months we signed up for. But she's excited every time it arrives.
Quilling. I didn't even know this existed. She was subscribed to Surprise Ride boxes for a while and this was one of their projects. Thin little strips of paper, twisted into tight spirals and glued onto cardstock to make pictures. It can take hours to create a picture, so yay for independent play!
LoopDeDoo. This is a little creation that greatly speeds up the creation of friendship bracelets. The Kid bought it for herself with a 60% off coupon from JoAnn Fabrics. Anyone out there want a friendship bracelet? Or maybe a dozen? If she keeps up at this rate, she'll go broke on embroidery floss.
Next up: Knitting. Like with actual knitting needles. I'm a bit skeptical about whether a six year old can knit, but she was determined to try and bought the knitting needles and some yarn this past weekend with her allowance. I decided to buy knitting needles and yarn for myself and learn alongside, since that's the only way I'd ever be able to help her out if she gets stuck. We decided on dishcloths for our first project - small and useful. I'm thankful for YouTube videos, as that's how we'll be trying to learn. We just have to find time - hah!
The other "Next up": LoopDeLoom. From the makers of the LoopDeDoo, this is their answer to speeding up a weaving loom. This will be The Kid's winter solstice present, along with some more yarn. The same makers also have a monthly craft box subscription, which I think might be next up when we're done with the Green Kid Crafts boxes. Their individual kits look like some of the better ones I've seen in a while.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Thursday, December 8, 2016
New Games!
The Kid has developed some new patience and strategizing, and so we've been adding to our game shelf! It's so exciting, because the games themselves are much more interesting for an adult to play.
Some of favorite new games:
Ticket to Ride:Europe: This is definitely at the top end of her ability to manage, but so much fun. The board is massive, you have to manage a zillion cards, and you have to really play with strategy and alternatives. But there's cute little trains. And a bit of geography. And the Europe game has the city names written in their native languages.
Qwixx: Simple dice game with a bit of probability thrown in. Take turns rolling and try to mark off numbers in order before others can. From Gamewright, one of my favorite game makers.
Crab Stack: Simple game where you can move your pieces in limited ways, trying to be the last one still able to move at the end of the game. Minimal strategy (unless I'm missing something), but a game takes maybe ten minutes and it's fun.
Double Shutter: A newer twist on the classic Shut the Box games, adding a tiny bit more strategy. The numbers some in a double row, and you can't play the back rown until the tile in front of it is shut.
Gobblet: This is a twist on tic-tac-toe in which the pieces can gobble each other up by playing a larger piece on top. Who knew tic-tac-toe could be made fun again? We had Gobblet Gobblers, which uses a 3x3 gameboard, but The Kid was ready to upgrade to the usual adult 4x4 gameboard recently.
Dixit: You have a handful of cards with generally surreal pictures on them, use a phrase to describe one of them, everyone else finds a card in their hand that might also fit the description, then everyone tries to figure out which card was the one originally being described. In order to get points, you're best off if some people (but not all) can correctly choose your card. Or if someone chooses your card when it wasn't the original one. It took some getting used to, but is now among The Kid's absolute favorites on our shelf.
Dr. Eureka: Fun, quick visual perception and speed game. You have three "test tubes" and two little marbles of each of three colors. Flip a card and it will have the marbles in various configurations within the tubes and you have to rearrange your setup without touching the marbles with your hands. We've learned for The Kid to play over an empty box lid so we don't spend our time searching for runaway marbles.
Monopoly and New York:1901 have arrived from Amazon, but we haven't even had a chance to break them open yet.
Some of favorite new games:
Ticket to Ride:Europe: This is definitely at the top end of her ability to manage, but so much fun. The board is massive, you have to manage a zillion cards, and you have to really play with strategy and alternatives. But there's cute little trains. And a bit of geography. And the Europe game has the city names written in their native languages.
Qwixx: Simple dice game with a bit of probability thrown in. Take turns rolling and try to mark off numbers in order before others can. From Gamewright, one of my favorite game makers.
Crab Stack: Simple game where you can move your pieces in limited ways, trying to be the last one still able to move at the end of the game. Minimal strategy (unless I'm missing something), but a game takes maybe ten minutes and it's fun.
Double Shutter: A newer twist on the classic Shut the Box games, adding a tiny bit more strategy. The numbers some in a double row, and you can't play the back rown until the tile in front of it is shut.
Gobblet: This is a twist on tic-tac-toe in which the pieces can gobble each other up by playing a larger piece on top. Who knew tic-tac-toe could be made fun again? We had Gobblet Gobblers, which uses a 3x3 gameboard, but The Kid was ready to upgrade to the usual adult 4x4 gameboard recently.
Dixit: You have a handful of cards with generally surreal pictures on them, use a phrase to describe one of them, everyone else finds a card in their hand that might also fit the description, then everyone tries to figure out which card was the one originally being described. In order to get points, you're best off if some people (but not all) can correctly choose your card. Or if someone chooses your card when it wasn't the original one. It took some getting used to, but is now among The Kid's absolute favorites on our shelf.
Dr. Eureka: Fun, quick visual perception and speed game. You have three "test tubes" and two little marbles of each of three colors. Flip a card and it will have the marbles in various configurations within the tubes and you have to rearrange your setup without touching the marbles with your hands. We've learned for The Kid to play over an empty box lid so we don't spend our time searching for runaway marbles.
Monopoly and New York:1901 have arrived from Amazon, but we haven't even had a chance to break them open yet.
Monday, December 5, 2016
October's Top Books
So, it's December and I've been totally slack in my posting. Logged in and realized I never finished this or posted it, so I might as well give these books credit now as favorites for October!
1. Ballywhinney Girl by Eve Bunting - a story about a girl and her grandfather who discover a mummy buried in the bog in Ireland, told from the girl's point of view.
2. The Greatest Power by Demi - an emperor wants to name a new Prime Minister, so he issues a challenge to all children - return in a year and demonstrate what they believe to be the greatest power in the world.
3. The Bat Boy & His Violin - a father and son story. Reginald loves playing his violin, but his dad doesn't understand and requires Reginald to work as a bat boy for his losing Negro Leagues baseball team. Reginald's playing inspires the team, which in turn manages to have his dad open his ears.
4. How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman - cross-cultural story about two adults learning how to manage a bit of each other's customs, and teaching both to their child. This was a really good find.
Bonus selection! The point of these lists is to spotlight lesser-known books, which this is not. DD read Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary, which is by far the longest work of fiction she has ever chosen to read. We've done many Beverly Cleary read alounds, but this would work horribly as a read aloud, so I had been saving it until I thought she would be ready to read it. She loved it, and I was reminded how much I had loved it as a child. This is one I had read over and over again.
1. Ballywhinney Girl by Eve Bunting - a story about a girl and her grandfather who discover a mummy buried in the bog in Ireland, told from the girl's point of view.
2. The Greatest Power by Demi - an emperor wants to name a new Prime Minister, so he issues a challenge to all children - return in a year and demonstrate what they believe to be the greatest power in the world.
3. The Bat Boy & His Violin - a father and son story. Reginald loves playing his violin, but his dad doesn't understand and requires Reginald to work as a bat boy for his losing Negro Leagues baseball team. Reginald's playing inspires the team, which in turn manages to have his dad open his ears.
4. How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina R. Friedman - cross-cultural story about two adults learning how to manage a bit of each other's customs, and teaching both to their child. This was a really good find.
Bonus selection! The point of these lists is to spotlight lesser-known books, which this is not. DD read Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary, which is by far the longest work of fiction she has ever chosen to read. We've done many Beverly Cleary read alounds, but this would work horribly as a read aloud, so I had been saving it until I thought she would be ready to read it. She loved it, and I was reminded how much I had loved it as a child. This is one I had read over and over again.
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