Paper Crafts With Ollie
My fourth grader, Ollie, is a mastermind paper crafter. He used to be really into Legos, but then soccer became his new love. His new affair with soccer was swift and strong and his 5-year-long serious relationship with Legos was over in a blink. Practicing soccer by himself and playing soccer with his friends was always on his mind. But when inside and looking at some free time before or after practicing, when he would have used to been found playing Legos, he began to hone a new type of creativity. Paper crafts.
His new paper medium is simple and plentiful around the house. Sometimes it's pulled from the recycling bin. Other times it's from one of the paper containers in our crafts closet. It's kinda like he took his "Master Builder" Lego skills and started Master Building with paper. From costumes for his little sisters to school projects and origami, I'm always being shown some cool new things Ollie's created.
The above pics are of Charlotte and Ollie making "Dragon Wings." Charlotte is really into dinosaurs and dragons. It was winter break and Ollie decided to make the most of the vaca and create a dragon costume for Charlotte and Emma. They flew around the house all the next day with their fun dragon wings.
Above in these pics are little vignettes he created all around his room. He had asked his grandmother to bring over this big bucket of old school plastic army men in her basement, which she kindly did. Then he looked up origami videos on YouTube (this is all by himself, p.s.) and made all these different sized tanks and canons. It was amazing, even if we did make him take down most of it before bedtime.
Then this week he waited until the 13th of February to decide to make his Valentine's Cards and collection box for his schoolmates.
Thanks to a quick "free printable Valentine's cards" google search, he found cute monster cards and made this complimentary box from a broken down kitchen trash bag box in the recycling bin. A little mailing tape put the box back together and kept all his crafty artwork secure (I basically laminate everything with mailing tape - one thing I'd for sue take on the mythical island). My favorite is that it has what we marketers call a "Call to Action" -- "Fill Me Up!" Love that!!
Being a mom is amazing. I sometimes get so busy, I forget to enjoy and take wonder in these four kids' imaginative worlds. I try to be patient enough with my "so much to do adult brain" that I can soak up a little of their everyday creative magic. Hope you enjoyed seeing a glimpse of the world we live in. Am sure Ollie will make something new and fun to share soon!
Lotsa Love,
Leah
