Blocks and Birdhouses

Sometimes I start a project with the best of intentions (really, I do), but too often those projects kind of fall by the wayside. I lose steam, relieve the creative itch and then it’s over.

Sadly, these adorable blocks are one of those projects.

I mean look at them! How cute would a set of these make as a baby shower gift or gift for a toddler? So cute. A few of the sides have letters of the alphabet, maybe one side has a number, a picture.

Problem is, I was taking such care on each individual side. Sitting leisurely at the table, planning the design, the colors. But all of a sudden it hits me: holy crap there are let’s see… 26 blocks (one for each letter of the alphabet) and each block has 6 sides… so that’s… um… 156 sides to paint! Yikes. And I only got to H. Ugh.

Lightbulb: this would make an awesome group activity- maybe something for guests to do at a baby shower? Or something one family could work on together.

So how do you do it? Grab a 40% off coupon and pick up some wooden blocks from your local craft store (I got mine from JoAnn’s but I’m sure they have them elsewhere). And then gather anything you have that can make a mark on the surface. Markers, highlighters, paint pens, sharpies, paint, watercolors, oil paint, magazines and modge podge, nail polish. Whatever you want. And then just go to town on the surfaces. Pull up some font ideas on the computer if you need inspiration. Anything works!

If you do happen to finish a set of these, please protect the kiddo you are gifting it to and spray the blocks liberally with a coat of food/kid/pet safe clear coat (also available at JoAnn’s).

Maybe I’ll finish them someday.

Maybe not.

Who knows.

In other news, look what my little sweetie made today!

Aren’t they adorable? And guess what? They only cost ONE DOLLAR. Happy dance! That’s my kind of craft project.

I let Lilly pick out which bird houses she wanted to get. There were maybe five or six houses to chose from. She could have gotten Mommy to get them all for her (I have a thing for full sets), but for whatever reason, she only wanted three, and these were the three she wanted. That little heart shaped hole in the middle house made her very, very happy.

We set up her picnic table out on the deck and covered it in a brown paper bag. I let her use acrylic paint so I had to at least pretend to try to keep everything clean. If you give your kids tempera to use- let them go crazy- that stuff washes out/off of everything.

The best way to give toddlers paint is on a flat paper plate (or even right on the brown paper bag). Don’t even try to mess around with little cups or individual paint trays. They get messed up, knocked over and pushed around. Plates are easy, cheap, and disposable and let your toddler look at and see the colors mixing and moving around- that’s half the fun!

Plopping down a handful of different brushes let Lilly make her own choices as to which brush she should use and when she wanted to switch brushes. It was interesting to watch her make these decisions as there was no direction coming from me. There was clearly a method to her maddness, I just don’t know what that method was.

We painted our nails too while we were at it 😉

Is that toxic paint I see inside my child’s mouth?? Oops. Bad Mommy.

She was so careful! It was amazing to watch this, seriously. Maybe it’s just the art teacher in me, but it was so fascinating to see how enthralled she was with painting these birdhouse. She was thinking about which colors to chose, putting down a brush, picking up another, and going back to first with some kind of rhyme and reason. My little chatterbox was actually quiet!