I just love buttons. The colors, the different kinds, the feel in my hands. My kids like them too. I have a glass jar of them that are within “kid reach,” and they get used for all sorts of things. The most obvious use is on sewing projects. But we also use them as ingredients in food that we cook up in the kids’ kitchen. And today we used them to learn numbers and colors.
Using a couple of dice, the girls had to roll and then add the two number together.Then they had to count out that amount of buttons. I did addition with both of them and then did a little subtraction with Zoe. Charis was already onto color sorting at this point. Then we all joined in and sorted colors.
Nehemiah? Well, he threw them around and entertained himself quite beautifully the whole time.
We’ve also started an art gallery in our home. It made sense because my kids are constantly drawing pictures (especially Charis).
I got some good advice from other moms and ended up with a “clothesline” for their pieces of art. (Still would like to get some clothespins instead of these office clips to hang the stuff up.) I hung it in our dining room. Our dining room table is usually where all of the art gets created anyway.
I also hung up three wooden clothes hangers to use to display artwork. I found these kid-sized hangers at a yard sale last summer for super cheap. I had this idea in mind at the time. I think I first saw this done at the CHA or Memory Trends shows. They were using hangers to display scrapbooking layouts. Since then I’ve seen it online several places as well as in magazines. I think they would be neat to hang black and white photos as well.
And for those of you that made it down this far in the post…pictures of the little guy. Because in my opinion you can never get enough pictures of the little guy. He was laying on my knees this afternoon when I snapped these. And because I like to keep it real, you must know this is right before the spit-up.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
i can’t stop looking at your button pictures. my friend says that i am very tactile, based on a not so cool kid confession that i hate the touch pad on iphones. i love me some real buttons that click! with that said…i look at those pictures and just imagining plunging my fingers in those bowls feels therapeutic! sigh.
What a great idea. I cant wait to do this with Nathan and Micah. Where did you get all the buttons?
A lot of them were given to me. I’ve seen them before at thrift or antique stores. You could also buy them at Michaels or Hobby Lobby…although you might not get quite the variety as you would from a second-hand store.
your kids are fantastic artists!!
I like your art museum and buttons! Thanks for sharing your ideas and finds! I will keep this in the back of my mind for future use.
Great idea. Love the art, too! And that yummy Luther.
i love the art gallery mandy! lovely idea…i definitely need to do that as my boys love to draw as well!! and i love the idea of a black and white photo on the hanger! well done!
{ 1 trackback }