Blink and you could have missed it friends. The week is over already. Now for a two day stretch of pajamas, loud arguments over iPad time, and constant snacks to fill the void of having no schedule to tell us what to do. I may write a post about our schedule this weekend. That would fill at least a couple of hours. Corona has even robbed me of new Archers episodes on Sundays, so the weekends have become my very least favorite part of our lives.
It is a seriously weird mix bag of craft and learning activity today pals. Craft wise, I recently fell down an amazon worm hole and ordered a large amount of stuff I really didn’t actually need. I spent the first 6 weeks of the pandemic afraid to buy anything online because I didn’t want to be responsible for a delivery driver having to be out of his house. However now that Oklahoma is nearly at phase 3 of reopening, I felt I could go a little crazy and get myself some pointless crap, including a bag of colored craft feathers. I have a garage FULL of craft supplies. The Lorax would sob at the amount of paper I’ve hoarded. However, we didn’t have any feathers, and this is bird week, and I’m paying for prime, so here we are. But what to do with $3.99 worth of feathers? Trusty google to the rescue! Peacocks.
For the craft you will need
- Scissors
- glue
- tissue paper
- Peacock template (linked below)
- markers
- Sharpie
- craft feathers (I got mine here)
To start I printed us each one of these peacock templates (linked below) then whilst the boys colored them in, I drew around one on some card and did a basic peacock feather shape around it. I cut these out to save a little time later. The boys chatted away as they colored. Teddy as usual chose every shade of blue we had in the house, and as usual, his peacock was a bad guy who had the only life goal of defeating William’s peacock. He’s a creature of habit. Once they were done coloring I let them cut out their own peacocks. There definitely getting much better with the craft scissors. All this practice is paying off. Cant wait for their scissor art scholarships to Yale in 2033.
Arth had been coloring with us up until this point, however even I, with my poor grasp on what will get a toddler ridiculously dirty, knew that he had to be removed for the next stage. I poured some Elmers glue out and the boys spread it over the card. Then they started sticking on their feathers. It was actually very comical watching them stick the feathers on. Teddy loves to be precise, but even as an adult, a dollop of craft glue and a bag of cheap feathers is a recipe for stress. He dealt with it better than I thought. That is until he was too busy chatting to William, and accidentally stuck a purple feather on his entirely blue picture. He completely lost his cool, and it took a while to calm him down, even though it only took 0.3 seconds for me to remove the actual feather. Just as we were starting to finish up Arth decided he was done with his Vtechs on the floor and climbed onto the table and into some glue. It’s moments like that that make me wonder why I don’t always just strap him into his highchair…. three children in, and still making beginner mistakes.
The big boys were so wonderfully behaved, playing with their finished peacocks. I had to go and change Arthur into a non sticky outfit and wasted far too many wipes on his wriggly little gluey fists. It took much longer than I thought. However when I came back the boys were sitting nicely at the table…. battling their peacocks to the death.
From feathery foul, to some incredibly vintage academia. My parents in law often send the boys large care packages from New York. They are a magical mystery assortment of all different things. Some new clothes, some new toys, some old toys of my husbands from 1995. Most recently they mailed an enormous box of kids workbooks from the 90s. You know the type, the ones you give kids on a road trip, or to supplement their homework. But what good are second hand used workbooks? Ah dear reader, so naive. Even at 6 years old, J had the brain of an 85 year old squirreling away for a long Siberian winter. He looked at all the workbooks, but he never wrote in them, just in case he needed them later. Little did he know, 25 years later. That day would indeed come.
I flicked through the entire box and found some gems. Sidenote: the box also contained an entire collection of Science world magazines from 1999. If anyone wants them you’re welcome to them, they’re very dated. One has an entire article about how in the future they think people will be able to talk on the phone whilst actually seeing the person on the screen….wild! Anyhow, my children live in a generation where they are too young to even remember the iPod. So if you’re directing a film based around the millennium big or something, and need some mags to be a doctors office waiting room scene, I’m ya gal.
As J had so carefully left these workbooks untouched for over 2 decades, I very gingerly photocopied the pages I had found in them that matched our bird them. Some people,e hand down priceless antiques, and Great Granny’s diamond. In the Trofemuk family it’s multiplication worksheets suitable for ages 7-9.
Teddy is particular loves a worksheet. William is less excited by them, but he’s actually experienced proper school, and having to do them. I’m sure the novelty will wear off for Ted too. For now though he squealed when he saw them and instantly wanted to know where the spot was to write his name. Teddy had a sheet on the letter 10. It was very appropriately leveled for him, and he adored crossing out 10 eggs, and then copying the number at the bottom. This was ideal as I had to help explain to William how to alphabetize. It honestly never crossed my mind that he wouldn’t know how to do that. Once I’d explained it he rattled through it, and then moved onto the math. In a weird twist the page came with stickers to fill in the gaps. William asked if he should lick them like a stamp, however due to their decrepit age, I was concerned about a Costanza wedding incident, so I told him to keep his tongue to himself. Hows this for a weird twist, we didn’t need to lick them, or use glue, because after 25 years the stickers were still sticky. I was completely amazed, and slightly scared. I dread to even imagine what product survived 25 years in an attic in NY.
And so that’s us done for another week. Who even knows what date it is? If it were not for this new schedule and all the crafts and activities I wouldn’t even know the day. On a serious note though, school in Oklahoma is coming to a close next week, but I’ll be continuing with these activities. If we can’t go home to Europe this summer, you’d best believe I’m using my laminator constantly to feel joy! Catch you on Monday friends. Have a super weekend.
LINKS AND SOURCES TO RESOURCES
Raising Truffles 