If there’s one thing toddlers can produce a lot of, it’s craft. Oh, and nappies, and broken nights and so on – but let’s stick with craft for now. Most days, whether at nursery or home, Harry wields a paintbrush flamboyantly, producing a range of slightly sticky, partially recognisable masterpieces. In the last month, we’ve made monkeys, Batman masks, easter chicks (we were a bit late with that one…) and neon flowers, as shown below. As artist and his devoted mother, both Harry and I are very proud of these, but as they threaten to take over the house I’ve decided that action is called for, and have captured the best in a couple of simple projects which will mean we can clear some wall space and preserve them for a little while longer.
1. A Boxed Memory Game, or ‘Snap!’
Remember those memory games you played when you were really small where you had to take turns in flipping over cards until you found a pair? For this one, I photographed a selection of Harry’s pictures and made two A7-sized copies of each, mounted the collection on card stock and decorated the backs of each to create a personalised memory game for Harry. A leftover box which had originally contained Christmas cards was the perfect container, so I added a picture of the full set on the front. Job done! Detailed instructions at the bottom…
2. Thank-you Cards
For these, I photographed individual art projects and printed onto A5 matte photo paper (you could scan them rather than photo them if you prefer) to create flat correspondence cards to thank people on Harry’s behalf for birthday gifts, treats and general loveliness. I then cropped the image and pasted it multiple times onto a .ppt slide in order to create a matching envelope liner. This works particularly well with black and white and bold primary colours – Harry’s batman mask worked a treat.
Making the memory game…
Materials:
- A selection of artwork
- Camera / scanner
- Paper (to print onto) and card stock (to mount images onto for sturdiness)
- Pens, glitter or other embellishments to decorate the reverse of each card
- A storage box; individual cereal boxes, large matchboxes and playing card boxes are all a good size for this.
Firstly, take a picture (or scan) each piece of artwork. Download to your PC and add words if you want to; I chose to add alphabet tags, thinking that one day we may have a full set. Then print off your images in duplicate; I arranged them in a contact sheet format and printed a large single sheet, but it doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as they’re the same size…
Cut up the individual images and mount on cardstock; they’re going to get a lot of wear and tear!
And finally decorate the reverse of each card – given the amount of time they spend face down in this game, it’s worth spending as much effort on the back as the front! I used monogram ‘h’ letters for Harry, and continued this theme on the front of the box…
We had a lot of fun with this! To play the memory game with very young children like Harry, turn over a single card each and keep it turned up; take it in turns to turn another one over until you find the pair; at this stage it’s more about recognition and being the first to scream ‘SNAP!!’. When kids get a bit older, you can play it more traditionally, turning the cards back over every time and relying on memory.
Now I’ve got Harry’s artwork stored on my PC, there are lots of other options for display… what do you do with yours? All ideas very welcome!
Kate these are fantastic ideas! I usually have a selection of artwork on display in the breakfast room; keep some in the forever memories boxes; photograph some and finally, (coughs quickly) consign some to the recycling bin! My youngest is 4 but still loves a game of snap and is still egocentric enough to be bowled over by this. I’m really enjoying your blog, fantastic effort my lovely.
Vikkitoria x
That made me smile, thank you so much for your lovely comment here and on my page; wonderful to have you on board, as it were! I know what you mean about the recycling… Harry always seems to arrive silently in the kitchen just when I’m binning some cherished piece of art, and his wounded dismay gives me a guilt trip for days
how so very creative of you what a talented Mummy you are working together like that but just the whole concept is just brilliant I need you for a few hours to help me with MummaFly and hope we can have a brief chat saturday
LOVE IT …
wonderful idea, the mask card looks so professional! Eric Carle better watch out, Harry’s work is quite lovely. I have to master the tools that are available on the computer to make items like this-their fabulous.
I love these ideas. My son hasn’t reached the prolific art stage yet but now I can start getting prepared for when he does.
Thanks Louise! And yes, brace yourself now… soon he will generate so much stuff made from construction paper and fingerprint that you will run out of adjectives to describe the awe and admiration that he expects on delivery of each masterpiece; forewarned is forearmed
*makes note to buy a thesaurus*
Seriously, it’s scary how unbelievably talented & creative you are! I’m always so psyched to see your latest entry bc what you do blows me away each time. You make Martha look synthetic. Well done from USA
Awesome feedback Claire, thank you! *beams with ear to ear smile across the Atlantic*
These are beautiful Kate! When Harry has outgrown them, they’ll be a lovely keepsake. His own kids may use them one day! We have used artwork for wrapping paper and to decorate the children’s rooms. However, with 3 kids each bringing home numerous bits each day, I’m afraid quite a lot gets filed in the recycling bin! I keep the ones that make me smile, and that capture each child’s personality.
Beautiful! I love the matching game, and it is the perfect way to use the artwork that stacks up.
What a wonderful way to keep a record of these treasures! These games may well last through to the next generation. The cards are lovely too. I’ve a tip for what to do with the artwork and other creations after you’ve memorialized them. Do you get junk mail? I get it in droves. When my kids were young, I paid my utility and other bills the old fashioned way: I’d mail out checks for payment. The bills always seemed to arrive with about 10 extra pages of offers. I’d take these out for recycling, and slip in some of the kids prized artwork. Kind of like passing it on rather than throwing it away. Anytime I received an offer in a prepaid envelope, they’d also get their envelope back stuffed with preschool artwork. My kids actually were proud to mail out the stuff- they thought they were like a secret Santa!
Pure genius! I want to do this ASAP
I,m a spanish Infant school, Teacher
your blog are beautiful . Thanks for the ideas!
This is a fantastic idea. My daughter is five and a prolific “artist” (ahem) and draws about 50 pictures of hello kitty, princesses, of herself, of me, every day. I just can’t keep all of them and do recycle them. I love the idea of turning them into thank you cards.
I’m just thinking that I could persuade her to draw something Christmassy and print a load of Christmas cards. Hmmm – lovely, inspiring ideas as always Kate. x
how clever! i might have to try this myself! i found your blog from your renovation featured on Designsponge and am having fun looking through all of your posts. Your kitchen renovation is amazing, by the way.
Thanks Kasey for the lovely comment, really glad you like the blog; welcome aboard!