We have taken a significant break from our God's Little Explorers activities as we have been tending to other needs in life. Learning has still been happening, simply not in the formal way it had been before we took our unplanned sabbatical.
We are slowly getting back into the swing of things, and picking up where we left off with the letter 'q'.
Yesterday we made a paper quilt, as Ada has been desperate to use scissors again, after I had to institute a ban for hair-cutting.
My Mum took up quilting as a hobby (as opposed to a lifestyle, as with most quilters) when I was in my late teens, and I have vague memories of her first quilt, which involved the 'log cabin' block pattern, I believe it's called. Since its only lines are straight ones, it was perfect for Ada's reintroduction to scissors.
After a practice run, in which I cut my construction paper five sheets thick and just eyeballed the measurements (you can guess how well that turned out) I decided to invest a bit of time in making up a cardboard template, and pre-measuring and marking up all my paper squares.
Ada had a field day with cutting, although I raced to cut at least two complete sets out before she got to all the squares; she's not yet really got the hang of straight lines. Her cuttings ended up back in the junk trunk to live another day.
I had pre-drawn the log-cabin block pattern (times six) on the plastic side of some contact paper, and once we were good to go, we started with the squares at the center of each block. Working our way out, the only rule was that we couldn't have two pieces the same colour touching each other.
The activity required a lot of direction (both girls) and re-sticking of pieces (Ida, mostly) but I think given another year or two Ada (who will be 4 next month) would probably be able to complete the actual forming of the blocks on her own.
The bonus about using clear contact was that we were able to stick the page directly into their God's Little Explorers notebook without having to bother with glue!
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So cute! My grandson is just two, so maybe next year.
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love this activity. I can see art happening, and I can see this as a pattern activity for math. And a tool for planning my next quilt!
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely an activity I can see us doing again in the future. For maths, it will probably morph into a study of tessellations.
DeleteThis could be fun for the kids! And teach appreciation for quilting!
ReplyDeleteNext time, we can focus on just a couple of colours and making a repeating colour pattern...that's the great thing about quilting...three same basic block can have dramatically different looks based purely on colour!
DeleteThis is a great idea. DD is currently reading the Adventures with Lily Lapp series, and quilting naturally goes with studying the Amish culture!
ReplyDeleteStopping by from Teach Me Tuesday!
I remember cutting miniature dress patterns out of butchers' paper when I studied dressmaking in high school. I figured it would work on a much simpler level for this activity too.
DeleteOh, the hair-cutting! We all go through that don't we? Great project.
ReplyDelete--Gena
Has she learned her lesson since the hair cutting? And it looks like the project turned out great.
ReplyDeleteHeidi’s Wanderings
Thank you for so pictorial story. I will try to make a Paper Quilt with my grandson. He is 3 years old. But to say the truth, I myself was touched - I will try to use your prompts in my own creative works. Thank you for the push http://visualpoetry-tomas.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-curse-or-blessing.html
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ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this at NextGen Homeschool's What's Working Wednesday homeschooling link-up - I love it!
ReplyDeleteRenée
What a fun idea. Might be fun to use this to work on patterning, too :)
ReplyDeleteVery nice creative project. It looks super cheerful too!
ReplyDeleteI love alphabet activities! And this one looks so fun...the letter Q isn't the easiest. :) Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up with the Friday Flash Blog. I hope you checked out the highlighted posts as well as everyone’s terrific entries. Have a fabulous weekend!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
thejennyevolution.com
That's really cute...what a fun idea! Thanks for sharing at Make Bake Create!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun idea and its turned out really nicely! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete-Reshama
www.stackingbooks.com
Wow.. such a nice idea. Thanks for linking up at Toddly Mummy! :)
ReplyDeleteThese look so pretty and are a great way to explore shape and tessellation.
ReplyDeleteI would love for you to link this up at the Empty Your Archive party - we're focused on sticking crafts this week but you can also share your great old posts on over 100 different topics in the Mommy Archive, which is a fab resource bank for moms, Alice xx
What a wonderful activity!! As a quilter I love it and as a mother of a preschooler, I think it is great! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!
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