Elijah's projects...

Elijah gave up naps a couple of months ago.  At first I was sad to see my alone time go, but now I see it as time that he and I get to spend with him one on one.  Sometimes we do a little, sometimes we do a lot, or sometimes we each do our own thing.  I find myself forgetting that he is only 4 years old sometimes.  He is one smart cookie and we have the best conversations.  Plus, he is a capable kid that is able to do a great deal for himeself and on his own. 
I have mentioned the magazine Family Fun before.  Over the last couple of days he and I have made one of the projects found in a speciual Spring issue of the magazine.  He spotted the tube racer and asked if we could make one.  I like to keep recycled materials on hand, I never know when I might need something for a project or activity.
Some of my favorite things to stash away are:
good pieces of cardboard
cardboard tubes
plastic bottle caps
styrofoam food trays for painting (from veggies, not meat)
glass jars of all sizes
oatmeal canisters
spice shakers
Other things I like to have on hand are:
coffee filters
straws
toothpicks
marbles
and of course the usual art supplies as well.
Anyway I digress...
Elijah and I raided the supplies and while I helped him at certain points he did most of the work in making that tube racer up there.  While a fun project for us to do, it is not something that held up very well during the active play of a 4 year old.  The wheels had to be re-attached several times before he gave up and started pretending that it was a crashed car that had fallen off a cliff. 
Oh well.  I hope that these kinds of activities help him see that with a little imagination something fun can come from what would seem to be junk.
Tomorrow we might make a magic fish aquarium.
Note:  I tried to find these projects on the website so as to link, but they don't have them listed...frustrating.

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