Swordwhale Walking: Illustration, stories, photojourneys, videos

You can see more on the murals page. When I began working on Gabriel's life sized orca, drawing in chalk on the sea colored walls, Gabe picked up a piece of chalk and began doing what I was doing. he drew several very nice fish, which we recorded digitally for posterity. (We washed them off.) I asked his mom, "How are you gonna explain he can't just always do this?" It was a special occasion to be able to draw on the walls. Chalk washes off nicely. Doing what an adult is doing is a classic way to learn. Of course, a sidewalk or driveway can be substituted for a wall. The chance to draw larger than the restrictive edges of 8.5 x 11" paper is important.

Did we ever actually use those things to clean pipes? They're easy to work with and sculpt into lots of cool stuff. Styrofoam balls make great snowmen. Add random things from the recycling bin (kind of like mr Potato Head).

2 Parts flour, 1 part salt, 1 part water.
Safe for little kids (if they try to eat it they'll just go "bleah!" because it's so salty), cheap, and you can color it with food coloring. Or paint it later. you can air dry it, bake it in your oven (about 350F), or air dry then bake. Works easiest as a flat cookie, but you can make an armature out of wire (try the farm store for fence wire) and aluminum foil, then build the clay over that. And bake. Encourages kids to look at the whole shape of an animal rather than drawing an outline (which gets the drawing out of proportion), or focusing on a detail like a claw (which also creates proportion issues).

It's more than just snowmen. With the right kind of slightly soft, wet snow, you can sculpt it very nicely. Take some recyclables and see what you can construct. Some recyclables would make good armatures (frames, skeletons) for snow sculptures.

Or liquid food coloring. And a bathtub or kiddie pool or snow. Let'em go nutz, hose'em down later.

A chance to go crazy with "paint" in an environment which is easy to clean.

Old Christmas cards, magazine pics. Create illustrated stories by cutting out and building dioramas with the pictures. Make paper springs, or use poster putty (the blobby stuff you can stick posters on walls with), or foam tape etc... to make your picture 3D. Those styrofoam inserts that kept your computer from disintegrating while shipping make nice backgrounds/environments to build stuff on (like the inside of a spaceship).

Can be turned into a whole zoo. Pipe cleaner legs make bugs. Clever cutting creates four legged critters (add "wool" for a sheep, spots for a cow, a saddle for a horse).

The dreamcatcher was created by the Ojibway of southeastern Canada. It was hung over a child's bed, the legend says to catch the bad dreams (which are then destroyed by the first rays of the sun), the hole in the center let the good dreams through. A feather in the center symbolized the Creator. this may be a bit much for very small kids, but an older kid can help. Use one long strand of yarn, and eight holes around the edge. A more traditional one can be made by using a twig wreath. (pics to come).