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My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:
Douglas is given a new knit hat by his dad and he is asked to be careful with it. Douglas barely makes it out of the house when his hat snags on a tree and is destroyed. His hat is unraveled and he doesn't want to tell his dad. David Melling's Douglas is a lot like a lot of children that are afraid to tell their parents when they have done things wrong.
Douglas tries to seek advice on how to fix his hat from his friends. Most of the would really just like the yarn for their homes but, they do try and tell him to talk to his dad.
In the end Douglas does talk to his dad and his dad does understand. He does remind Douglas to be careful with the replacement hat he gives him right off his own head.
Of course he reminded him of that with the first hat too.
I love the reminders in this book to listen and be willing to share when mistakes happen. JDaniel and I talked about both of these concepts after reading the book.
What did we do?
Craft a Bear and a Mom Lesson
This craft turned out to be more about me listening than JDaniel painting.
I cut out a bear out of a brown paper grocery bag and set out brown paint with a sponge to paint it.
JDaniel told me that he didn't want Douglas to be brown. He really wanted him to be blue, green, and black.
I really thought about forcing him to paint him brown so that I could have brown bear to for this post and decided that it really wasn't that important. What was important was to listen to what he wanted to do!
When he had finished painting, I said it was time to add eyes, a nose, and a mouth. JDaniel declared the project as done. I said that it would be fine with me.
When he left the room, I seriously thought about adding facial features to the bear. Then I thought about what I would be saying to him about listening. I think if I had added facial features I might have been telling him that it wasn't okay and that I had to sneak in a face to have it be right. That is not a lesson I want him to learn.
Sometimes crafts may need to be finished the way I see them. This craft wasn't one that had to be that way.
This post is linked to Lets BEE Friends and Link and Learn.
That book looks so cute. I will have to see if our library carries it. Happy New Year to you!
ReplyDeleteThat book looks adorable and what a great craft! I'm following from Mom Loop Follow Friday!
ReplyDeleteI think you're wise to embrace the multicolored bear :-)
ReplyDeleteI think the bear is just cute the way it is :)
ReplyDeletegreat job on the listening... i am still working on that with broxton :)
The craft sounds something familiar at our home! It happens often now a days! and I have started following my daughter instructions for crafts:-) The bear looks so adorable!
ReplyDeleteMy kids told me once (after they had grown up) that their favorite crafts were those which didn't have to come out in a specific way. That makes total sense to me, so I'm glad you let the bear be. I think it's perfect.
ReplyDeleteI love that you left the bear without a face!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up to Learning Laboratory at Mama Smiles =)
I love that story! The bear craft looks fun. I'm starting animals with the kids and can always use a craft to go along with the theme. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteWhat an important lesson you learned yourself and taught JDaniel. Essentially, you taught him to trust himself. Great job, Mom!
ReplyDeleteAnd that is why you are a good mama. So easy to want to fix it- but it is their creation so it makes it perfect. Sounds like a cute story
ReplyDeleteSome wise lessons you were teaching each other. And you did totally right. It's always difficult with painting and drawing, it all lies in the eye of the beholder, or the artist, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteI think the color Douglas is very cool!
ReplyDeleteCute bear project, I'll have to try it with my boys. I'm stopping by from Mom Loop Follow Friday too! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting...I think the bear turned out great :) What a great lesson for us to remember as well - to listen to our kids.. thank you.
ReplyDelete~MiaB
www.mamamiasheart2heart.com
Oh my goodness, what a great idea for a linky! I cannot wait to explore all of these links, but first I want to tell you thanks for visiting my blog. Also, you are everywhere, Momma! I see your name all over the place: twitter, commenting on other people's blogs, etc. You're a cyber rock star. :-) ~Julie
ReplyDeleteSo much fun! My girls want to do most of their crafting on their own now. I still enjoy it when they let me join in or need my help. Makes me giddy!
ReplyDeleteI think you did great in listening to him! When I do crafts with my kids I always remind myself to let them have a free hand at it and stop myself from making them do what I feel is right.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great message for kids. It is always hard for me to try and listen especially to a two year old and I have to make a bigger effort.
ReplyDeleteI love that you let JDaniel do his own thing! The bear turn out cute! That would be the perfect book for my 3-year-old. He's always afraid to tell me when he breaks something of spills.
ReplyDeleteI struggle with the "my vision" verses their "vision" problem a lot. They don't see the projects the way I do.
ReplyDeleteThe book and the craft both sound great--I'm ordering it from the library!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book! And I love that you learned a lesson too LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks for the linky. I love reading about everybody's book activities!
ReplyDeleteLori @ Cachey Mama’s Classroom
I'm quickly learning this lesson as well it's a hard one as a teacher I knew what students were going to produce at the end and what they needed to achieve - with a toddler it's so very different and I'm having to take a step back. We're starting this year with 1 book related craft/activity and I'm looking forward to linking up again in the future Thank you
ReplyDeleteI think for young children very much is about them exploring a colour, a material, a technique, rather than them creating a particular thing. It's great to read how you were so careful to listen to him and respect his intentions. And the bear looks great!
ReplyDeleteGood for you, Momma, for not changing his art piece!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun book ... and I love the way you listened to JDaniel! I stumbled your post and pinned it to my Literature-Based Activities Pinterest board at http://pinterest.com/debchitwood/literature-based-activities/
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