Pattern Bracelets

I bought some Pony Beads for Talia and brought them out today. She was so excited to see so many! :) She picked out a pipe cleaner and went to it. Then she announced to me that she was making Valentine bracelets (I had recently been going over upcoming holidays) and that the one she was making was for me :)


Then I taught her about patterns by starting one. I had been meaning to teach her patterns this way since this post in October, on beading! She figured it out, finished the pattern & announced that it was Daddy's Valentine Bracelet because it was out of "his favourite colours" (light blue, green, and purple evidently ;)

I look forward to more pattern practise (I mean play) in the future- it's so cool to see her learn- next I'll suggest that she create her own pattern (she was done with beads by the time I suggested it this time).

Oh, & she didn't even notice the heart-shaped beads- we can make even more "Valentiney" Valentine Bracelets next time! ;)

Stuffed Snowman

You can find detailed instructions for this activity over at Filth Wizardry (that's where I got the idea from).

It's such a fun & cute thing to make!


It was fun to think about what we would use for each part together.
We used:
-an old baby sock for the hat (with a pom pom)
-tooth picks & pieces of the sock for the arms & mittens
-beads for buttons
-googly eyes for eyes
-pom pom for a nose
-marker to make ears, earrings, and mouth
-ribbon for the scarf/bow

Here's Talia, stuffing her old tights with toilet paper (she loved it!)

Beading

This post is an example of why I wanted to start this blog- sharing ideas is so helpful!

I have an online friend who I met through our love for photography. She is a great mom and is one of the inspirations for starting this blog. You can find her on her blog, Learning Vicariously. Her most recent post was on making patterns with beads. As soon as I read it I knew that my daughter would love working with beads on pipe cleaners just as much as Eloise.


So, last night I went out and bought some beads from the dollar store, some pipe cleaners, and a little plastic organizer. Today when Talia had a friend over, we made little bead bracelets together- Talia was very focussed on them! She kept remarking about how she had never done this before & she was so glad I went shopping to buy the beads because she really loved to do this! :)

Observations:

This was a good opportunity to practise sorting as well. After filling a pipe cleaner, she emptied it of beads to start over, and pleaced each bead in its spot in the organizer.

Things I Would Change:

Next time, when it's just the two of us, I think we'll spend some more time talking about patterns, now that she is used to stringing the beads.