Wednesday, August 24, 2011

A Little Obession & a History Lesson

Most afternoons we sit in the playroom and enjoy reading time. Each week we pick out a new chapter book and I'll read aloud while the girls work quietly at their little table or the floor. (I know, I know, how very Little House on the Prairie of us - we are a bit nerdish...what can I say?)
They are allowed to pick any activity they like as long as they stay quiet and listen to the story. Legos, puzzles, and coloring books are usually the activity of choice, but for the past month, Caroline has been obsessed with a new big girl tool she has learned to use:
Scissors!

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Anna Cate will cut out pictures or letters to glue to a collage, but Caroline just cuts for the sake of cutting.

She will sit on the floor and cut up old magazines for a solid 30 to 45 minutes. It is the darnedest thing I've ever seen.
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She cuts and cuts and cuts and ends up with a colossal pile of trash by the end of story time!

Last week during story time, we read Meet Josefina, one of the American Girl books.
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In one of the chapters, Josefina and her sisters had to wash their family's laundry in the creek. Anna Cate's interest was piqued and she had lots of questions about how they did laundry (and other household chores) a "long long long time ago."

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Desperate for a fun morning activity, we gathered up all of the girls' doll clothes and blankets, filled two tubs up with some water & soap, and let them go to town washing their own laundry.
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A good *clean* time was had by all and the girls got a little appreciation for how hard daily chores were a "long long long time ago."

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If only my grandmother had been here with us to enjoy our little morning activity. She loved lessons like this about how much harder things used to be! :)

4 comments:

  1. Her exact response to Anna Cate's question would be "You don't even know!!" :) She would have loved hearing about this and I know these things you do with your girls are because of her influence and the lessons she taught us along the way... whether we were ready for them or not! Love you!

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  2. LG cuts too!!! A few times I have let her sit for a whole hour.... I think she would go longer if I let her. This is a great car activity too for long trips if you're willing to deal with all the trash on the floor :)

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  3. How fun!! This is a great idea...I think I may have to try with my kids too ; )

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  4. wow!! i have tried to read charlottes web soooo many times and my girls just cant sit still for very long...must.try.scissors!! did you make their bathing suits?? i LOVE them and think they are perfectly modest for little girls:)

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