Spinning & Craft Time with my Toddler

It was a big spinning day for me. I spun a whole vhs tape, which yields a lot of "yarn." Then I wound it on the ball winder. Big mistake. I spun it super tight thus making it an "active" ball of yarn. It tangled like crazy when I was trying to ply it with spun plarn. Next time I'll roll it into a ball. It should only be used on the ball winder when it is plied with another kind of yarn. I was able to ply it with the plarn, and I rolled it into a ball instead of using the ball winder. I wanted to have a nice example of it for my class tomorrow night, and it is the perfect amount to finish the bag that I'm working on.

It was the drop in craft day at the library. Their project was making mittens. They provided 2 different pages with mittens on them, markers, scissors, hole punches, yarn, and foam stickers. My toddler decorated these mittens and I cut them out and sewed them together. I just love the faces that he made on them.

Here is the 2nd page that he decorated. I wonder what is coming out of the bottom of the left mitten?

This is the back of the 2nd page. I think it looks like a monkey with his tongue sticking out. I love it!

I personally think that his creations are perfect. The only help that I gave was in using scissors, a hole punch, and the yarn to join the 1st mittens. I also helped to remove some of the foam sticker backs and to return the caps to the markers. I feel that it is important to allow children to be creative with as little interference from adults as possible. The mother and son who were sitting across from us had a different situation going on. The son obviously did not want to do the craft project (throwing a fit). When I looked at his mittens, it was apparent that it was the mother's craft project. If your child isn't into it, then don't do it. It is suppose to be a fun experience for them, not a "you have to" experience. I use to teach preschool. I would provide tools for a project and just let the kids figure out what to do with them. Occasionally there was some instructions, like "that is for painting and printing with." However it was 90% hands off on my part. This allows the child to develop their skills and creativity on their own. I learned so much from watching them. Children are so very creative. Its inspiring!