A Downward Turn

Elliot is going through a funny phase at the moment of wanting to do craft/messy things, but then changing his mind about 30 seconds after we start. More often than not his changing his mind has to do with the messiness of the task. He's going through a "I don't want to get messy/sticky/dirty" patch. He likes the idea of playdough and painting and digging in the garden, but once we start he's had enough "my hands are dirty, I wash my hands now". So then everything gets packed up.

He also is not big into craft that needs him to create something from his imagination. He is very visual and has a fantastic memory, so once he sees something done one way, that is the way to do it.

For his birthday recently he received a great Thomas the Tank Engine Make and Do craft book. I'm not really into craft books, I'm more of a "lets just do it and see how it turns out" kind of girl. But it was right up his alley because all the ideas were there, along with stickers, scissors, textas etc. and a picture of what it needed to look like.

As has been the case lately, I set up all the paint and he did one brush stroke and had had enough. So I was left painting the box! The main thing he wanted to do (and kept asking to do) was the crunchy crepe paper bushes on top. I set him up with scissors, glue and crepe paper and left him to it. He had a wow of a time! This is a boy who loves cutting and gluing!

We're still not finished the tunnel, but we're on to the fun bit, more cutting and crunching and gluing bushes on the top!

I'm going to try and do some sort of craft everyday in an attempt to get him used to the messiness of it. I probably won't have much luck, but I'll have fun trying! In the mean time I can see lots of collage being made!