Cassis Craft » Craft Box

Quiet Time

Belinda — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 03:07:47 +0000

It’s been quiet for me on the creative front. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy with Cassis Craft! At last, I have reorganised our front room into a very pleasant functional office for both myself and Greg. I have all my stock in there now instead of in various rooms and my in-law’s house. Greg has his desk in there too now.

The girls, however, had a fabulously creative time during the school holidays recently, being let loose on their craft box. They had some friends over one day too and the four girls had a great time creating all sorts of things. I don’t mind glue and glitter mess at all; with floorboards you can never quite get all the spilt glitter but at least the glue wipes off

The friends’ Mum commented that she couldn’t believe that they hadn’t asked to watch the TV in all the time they were crafting. This got me thinking. I couldn’t remember the last time the girls watched TV or a DVD, except for when we were all sick and we weren’t capable of moving or thinking! It’s just not something we do. Even Greg and I don’t watch it very often. I just don’t think there’s much on worth watching! As for children’s shows, well, are there any decent ones for 7 and 5 year olds? They used to watch Play School and some other ABC shows as preschoolers but now that it seems to be a 24 hour channel, it just seems like endless dribble!

Our girls enjoy craft, reading, puzzles, board games, Barbies, cars, Lego and always seem to be busy with each other making up games too. I sometimes wonder if I should suggest the TV or let them on the computer more often.

I love watching them during craft time and being involved. We love discovering what’s still in the box. We work together sometimes. We suggest ideas. We share. We argue! There can be tears. Ah, quiet time!

What do you do for quiet time? What do your kids do? Is there anything decent on TV?!?!

Quiet days crafting

Belinda — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 22:38:23 +0000

Well, those school holidays went far too quickly and with everything that happened, I feel like I need 2 weeks just to do what we had planned! Anyway, while the girls were sick, they did some quiet crafting.

The first thing we did was French knitting. I had to do a bit of googling to remind myself how to do it and set about teaching the girls. While Amy was doing reasonably well with the small tool, Sophie was struggling so I made her a homemade-cylinder-and-popstick version. It also doesn’t help with her that she goes between wanting to do it right-handed and then left-handed!

Sophie concentrating on French Knitting

Of course, seeing how quickly Sophie’s tube was being made and then tangling her yarn around the spokes of her tool, Amy decided she would like the homemade version too. I think they did quite a good job of their first times.

Amy, well, back at school and proud of her French Knitting

One of the other things they like doing is being let loose on the craft box. It is a big plastic tub on wheels full of all sorts of things. Sometimes they just create whatever they feel like, other times, I give them a theme and they produce something. The latest theme was “ice cream”. This is what they created. Amy has ice-creams in a row, a feathery bird in the sky and a dolly peg person laying in a hammock Sophie got sidetracked with the pegs and made people with sunhats going to the beach.

Amy's Ice Cream Creation

Sophie's Peg People

The other fantastic creative toy they both love is Lego. For some reason we had to get the Duplo back down rather than them playing with the “big person Lego”. It was a great team effort from both of them (well, mainly Amy doing it) to use every piece in the box to create a house with stairs and table and chairs as well as a couple of trucks.

Lego Creations

So while they weren’t the best holidays, at least we got some quiet time together.