Silhouette pictures for Father's Day

My husband received a pair of slippers for Father's Day from the kids because his old pair were nearly trotting themselves off to the rubbish bin - too many holes even for ventilation purposes! But we also made him a present that was just for him - three silhouette pictures of the kids.

Brooke at Inchmark has made beautiful silhouettes in many different forms and her instructions are clear to follow and inspiring. I took an individual, profile photo of the kids - not easy when the two-year-old wants to wriggle and look in every other direction! I printed the photos, cut around the heads, then traced them onto black cardboard, cut them out and framed them.

Lots of wonderful Dads in these picture books. Dads who build cubby houses, carry small boys on their shoulders to provide a different viewpoint of the world, look for lost toys, care for injured birds, realise the importance of bedtime kisses, put up with grumpy behaviour ... The wonderful character of Dads represented in these picture books, just as in real life, are far more unique and individual than a pair of slippers!

Dreaming BIG

Our family nest of five is flying haphazardly through February - new routines for school, kinder and work. There is a little bit of nudging, shoving, pecking, some very excited flapping and singing, and yet quite a bit of soothing ruffled feathers, as everyone adjusts to their new rhythm.

We did manage to find time in the last week of the school holidays to make our family collage - inspired by BIG.

BIG is a brand new magazine, coming out later this year. It's about art and creativity and kids - three of my favourite things! The bird gallery there looks amazing - it's very inspiring to see the creative work of kids presented beautifully next to an artist's interpretation of the same theme. Tom, Annalise and I spent two afternoons crafting our birds and their nest, and they feel very proud that their work is featured on the BIG blog.

There's still time for kids to draw, paint, sculpt or write about the theme of birds - any photos sent in by Monday February 14th will be posted on Jo and Lilly's BIG blog.

Seven steps to create your own art gallery

Your own art gallery might sound ambitious but with a few children, twenty minutes before dinner, a couple of hot weather days (or rainy days), you will be charging admission prices before you know it!

1. Visit a gallery
During the school holidays, we visited the Heide Museum of Modern Art. We were all impressed by an exhibition called Freehand: Recent Australian Drawing.

2. Clear the walls
 Then we came home to our empty pinboard, emptied of school and kinder artwork, of Christmas cards and homemade decorations. Can you guess what happened?

 3. Find small pockets of time

Our drawing wall evolved day by day. Fifteen minutes here to fill in the grumpy time before dinner. Half an hour after lunch to settle us down. An hour on a hot day with books and paints and pens spread all over the table. Five minutes to quickly catch an idea. One evening I laid out paper and pens on the table, ready to start drawing before breakfast the next day. Sometimes I sat down with Tom and Annalise and drew with them, other times I left them to it.

4. Limit your materials - less is best!

To make it look more cohesive, we stuck to brown artist pens with cream, white or brown paper. We did add watercolour paints for some experimenting towards the end. We imitated Heide and used dressmaking pins to tack our art to the wall. I pinned our pictures to the wall every day, so we could admire our growing gallery.

5. Turn to books for inspiration

One of the most useful books we turned to was the 'Usborne art book - Big book of things to draw'. The suggestion for doodling was wonderful. I laid out a huge piece of paper from a cheap roll, splattered paint all over it, painted a few shapes, lines and squiggles and then we spent three rainy days on and off drawing around the table. I had forgotten how relaxing it is to NOT have an agenda, to NOT do something for the sake of being productive. It's so relaxing - you just sit and draw whatever you feel like. And the splodges and splatters do invite you to be more imaginative, more inventive, more creative.

We also followed the Usborne book for drawing city buildings and painting them with watercolour, and Annalise really enjoyed looking at Stephen Michael King's 'Leaf' and splashing green paint over her figures.

6. Themes are fun
Sometimes one of us would suggest a theme - animals, weather etc. I was inspired by Jean at Artful Parent and drew lots of different frames to fill in. (Jean has some amazing art ideas!)

7. Enjoy the gallery!

Once you have filled your wall, it is time for the launch - yes, with a glass of wine and a cheese platter! If you are lucky you may find a local artist to talk you through their work...

"Come over to play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up." 

Melbourne Museum exhibition

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to write a post – two editing jobs, Christmas and a 7yo birthday party does take up a little time. But we have certainly been out and about, and of course, doing lots of reading. The influx of books in our home at the moment from the library and Christmas has led to lots of ideas and excursions.

I am a big fan of the author/illustrator Jennie Baker – her long list of picture books includes 'Window', 'The Story of Rosy Dock', 'Home in the Sky', 'The Hidden Forest', among others. Her latest book, 'Mirror', is a wordless picture book, and the original artwork is currently exhibited at the Melbourne Museum.
 

We were allowed to take photos there, but my photos don’t do justice to Jennie’s collages. Tom and I were in awe at the detail. While we have read 'Mirror' quite a few times (thanks to Grandma for such a wonderful birthday present for Tom!) there is a difference between the photographed pages of the book and the original collages.

'Mirror' is the story of two boys, one living in Sydney, Australia and one living in Morocco, North Africa. The introduction states: The lives of the two boys and their families look very different from each other and they are different. But some things connect them … just as some things are the same for all families no matter where they live.

I have been thinking about making some collages with the kids for a while. I thought I would explain that collages use different materials, natural and artificial. I thought I would offer the idea of making a collaborative collage of our backyard. I thought I would suggest that we draw a picture of our backyard first, then decide which area we could turn into a collage. I thought we would include a figure to represent all of us outside – Brett and Tom playing cricket, Annalise riding her bike, Joe crawling in the dirt and me gardening. I thought we would go outside and collect natural materials, such as twigs, leaves, grass, petals, tiny stones and other odds and ends. I thought we would then go inside and gather up bits of string, fabric, glue, cardboard, paint, paper and other bits and pieces. I thought I had an old canvas we could paint over.

And while I was thinking all of this – Tom just did it. No mucking about, no idle daydreaming, just straight into the creating. He used corrugated cardboard, string, paper, sticky tape and glue to make a figure of himself playing cricket. There, done!

I still have plans to make that backyard collage. Jennie can take up to three years to create her masterpieces – we have the remaining three weeks of the school holidays! I’d also love to mimic the idea of two books in tandem – have a look in a bookstore for 'Mirror' to see the clever design for two individual stories to be read together.

A book for Dads

Warning – this book may leave the average Dad feeling rather inadequate. The Dad in “My Dad” by Anthony Browne

isn’t afraid of anything, even the Big Bad Wolf
[and can] win the fathers’ race on sports day, easily.

This is a great book for toddlers, especially with the repetitive line, "He's all right, my Dad." It reminds me of my lovely grandmother-in-law - she would say the same about anyone in her family.

My favourite double page shows the Dad “as wise as an owl, and daft as a brush.” Such a fabulous contrast, because there are many Dads out there who are both perceptive, knowledgeable – and daggy in their dressing gowns!

Happy Father’s Day!

Flat

Flat is sleek and sophisticated. Flat is the latest in technology. Flat is the stomach you have after months of gym work. Flat is the satisfying snap of cardboard once the boxes have been collapsed.

Flat is Stanley, Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley wasn’t always flat, oh no. He was a regular kid, until his bulletin board fell on him during the night and squashed him flat. Just like that. Flat as a pancake.

When Stanley Lampbchop is flat, his younger brother can fly him as a kite. His parents can post him in the mail from their home in New York to a friend’s house in California. He even helps the police to solve a crime.

But after a while, Stanley admits to his brother Arthur,

“I’m just not happy any more. I’m tired of being flat. I want to be a proper shape again, like other people.”

Arthur has a brilliant idea, and uses an old bicycle pump to pump Stanley full of air. It works!

Although this book was first published in 1968, the adventures are still fresh and original. I think it’s fabulous for kids to hear language styles from decades ago. I can remember hearing something similar to this from my parents –

“Hey! Come and look! Hey!”
Mr and Mrs Lambchop were both very much in favour of politeness and careful speech. “Hay is for horses, Arthur, not people,” Mr Lambchop said.

The slight sibling rivalry between Stanley and Arthur is not out of place today. Of course you would be jealous of a flat brother who had marvelous adventures, wouldn’t you?

You can grab a Flat Stanley colouring card from your local bookshop. Once it has been coloured in, you can take a photo and email it to www.FlatStanleyDownUnder.com

Thanks to Grandma for the large Stanley who now resides with us. Apparently he looks after Annalise's dolls when she's not here!

Thanks to my youngest brother whose old copy of “Flat Stanley’s Fantastic Adventures” by Jeff Brown we are now reading. This includes the first story, “Flat Stanley”, as well as “Stanley and the Magic Lamp” and “Stanley in Space”. You can also buy “Flat Stanley” as a picture book.

An "ahh..." book

This book, "On the Night You Were Born" is one of those “ahh…” books. It gave me shivers the first time I read it to Baby Joe. I bought it for his first birthday, and really, every single baby should be given this book, by Nancy Tillman, in their first year.

Read this aloud to yourself now –

On the night you were born,
the moon smiled with such wonder
that the stars peeked in to see you
and the night wind whispered,
‘Life will never be the same.’

Because there had never been anyone like you …
ever in the world.

Every single baby deserves to have this passage read to them lovingly.
Every single child needs to feel that the world welcomes them for their individuality.
Every adult needs to be reminded that

…never before in story or rhyme
(not even once upon a time)
has the world ever known a you, my friend,
And it never will, not ever again …

Family life - the good, the bad and the sleepless

There was not a lot of sleeping last night. Four of the five of us are sick, in varying degrees of miserableness. Family life is just like that sometimes.

Some days are good,
Some days are bad,
Some days are neither,
Only so-so.
Some days we’re sad.
Some days we’re glad,
Ups,
downs,
It’s like a family yo-yo.

Catherine and Laurence Anholt’s “Big Book of Families” has this poem and many others, all about families. The poems in this collection run the full gamut of family life – holidays, moods, sibling quarrels, grandparents, fussy eaters and too much noise. I chose this book because I could relate to all those themes!

Little poems like these ones are a great introduction to poetry. They’re fun to say aloud, they’re humorous and they portray real family life. The illustrations are also very real and depict a range of family circumstances, family sizes and family lifestyles.