Boot Gnome craft

The rainy weather is coming! We were stuck inside far too often last year, so this year I purchased rain pants, a rain coat and rain boots for each of the boys. The first thing I noticed is that the rain boots were just being kicked off and thrown all over the place. So, I was inspired to do the Boot Gnome craft in my Enki Kindergarten craft book.

Basically the directions called for using a clothes pin and sewing a little cloak to go on it. Then you could draw a face on the gnome. Brother can sew and was more than ready for this craft, especially since he is seven and in first grade. Little Brother is only 3.5 years old and can't sew yet.



So, Little Brother glued on an underskirt and he glued on the wool roving hair. He chose the color of the cloak and thread, but I sewed up it and tied it on for him.




Brother decided he wanted his gnome to be old and added a snowy beard to his gnome, which is glued on.




Here's mine. I always make one for myself as well. Actually, I make one with scrap fabric when I am alone first so that I am familiar with the process. Then I make one at the same time to boys do.

So, I realize that the process of art is much more important than the product actually produced. Except in this case I really want the boot gnomes to be used to promote good care taking of the boots. Honoring the process over product philosophy, it really doesn't matter to me how they turned out aesthetically. Brother's stitches aren't even, Little Brother's gnome has hair all over him. It's just contained by the cloak. Little Brother used so much roving, it probably needs the cloak to keep the hair on! My issue is that the BOOT GNOME has to function properly and hold BOOTS.

My girlfriend made boot gnomes with her Mommy and Me class a few years ago, so I checked in with her. The clothespins provided did not hold boots either. So, it isn't just am a boot gnome making failure. But, I did have a bit of a tiff and I'm an engineers daughter so....



... we turned it into a wood working project. I sawed off the legs because I had to hold the clothespin in one hand and the saw with the other. I just used an old icky wood cutting board as my working surface. When my hand got tired of holding the clothes pin I realized I could hold it with a portable clamp, but that is still not appropriate or safe for kids.

Then I clamped the head and torso part of the clothspin on our woodworking table and Brother filed the bottom of the torso smooth. After it was smooth he used his manual hand drill to drill a hole in the center of each torso.

Into each hole we glued a pipe cleaner. We just used Elmer's school glue.



Allowing a day for the glue to dry, we ran the pipe cleaner through the hole in the spring of a clamping clothespin. And now we have a boot gnome that will actually hold the boots! We added an underskirt to hide the top of the clamping clothespin. The boys were very concerned when I was cutting off the boot gnomes legs. Phew! Happy Mommmy.

Wednesday

Baby was sick with the mid grade temperature again last night, causing us to cancel regular plans with friends. Tonight when I put him to bed, his fever didn't seem so high, so hopefully he is starting to get better. He didn't really eat anything today, but for the past two days he has been nursing a ton! It will probably hit my milk supply tomorrow, which I am not really looking forward to!

Since Baby was sick we started the day off really late again. 10:45. I had to carry Baby for half of our walk. It's only half a mile, so it's not that much of a strain on me. Brother seems to be enjoying circle. He is still really silly, but he is much more of a participant than he was when he was younger.

I read the "Star Frog" story again today for the third and final time. Tomorrow is recall day. To prepare him, I have been doing a ton of laundry and piling it up on the couch. I keep saying, "Tomorrow is laundry day, look how full the couch is getting." I haven't specifically said that we are doing recall though. Hopefully he is more receptive!

Today for craft we wet felted snowmen. I don't actually have a snowman cookie cutter, so we used different sized muffin tins for the head and body. He really enjoyed it this time, becoming lost in the rhythm of the fingers poking the wool. He wanted to make a little top hat for the snowman, but we didn't have that shape at all, so for the first time he had to hold the wool in his fingers and shape it a little bit. Hopefully it dries overnight so that we can sew it together tomorrow.

Brother self-directed an activity with play dough and let Baby join in when he woke up from nap. And I had both boys help me saw a little bit on our second art board. Right before dinner they made cards for Daddy. I can't believe how much Art is going on around here. It's so different than a year ago!

Wednesday - the meaning of Circle?

Today was supposed to be a park day, but our friends are sick. So we are doing things here instead. Trying to make it a normal day - I tried to do circle. The kids were running around the livingroom playing circle anyway, so I figured, why not jump in. Well, I met with Great Resistance! So, after the kids ran away, and I was angry, I sat to rest in my meditation spot, which is on the livingroom couch. Then I realized - what is the purpose of circle? To bring the family together and to get morning rhythmic movement. But, if there is Great Resistance and I force it, am I bringing the family together? No! So, I offered Brother the choice of a walk or a circle. He chose walk, and we all happily took a walk together. 

FWIW - I love circle. So, I will have on prepared just in case. 

It was snowing BTW! So, part way through the walk, Brother asked for Spring Songs. So I starting singing Spring is Coming from our circle. He loved it! He thought it was so funny singing spring songs in the snow! We also squeezed in our fingerplay. My only issue is that he will not be doing naval radiation if we just take a walk. So, I need to ponder that issue for a while. 

Our long term craft project is the sail boat from the Enki Craft book. I know, it's in the Autumn section, but we are making it now so that we can sail it on Lake Whatcom with Oma and Opa this summer. When we started the project at his friend's house (with his friend) last Thursday, he had no interest. I was thinking he might not be ready for this craft yet. But I got it out today and put it in the kitchen on our little wood working table and he was very intent on it. He did A LOT of sawing. I think he is ready for it, but he may need some reminding. On the other hand, he set a goal for himself of finishing that cut, and he did! I know he wants the sail boat this summer because we talked about it last year. But I also really feel like it is important that we make at least some of our toys and that I don't just go buy him a sailboat. I see a huge difference in the soul quality between purchased toys and home made toys, for him.