Monsters

Monsters have been a big topic in our house lately. Audrey has developed a little fear of monsters in her room at nap time. It's funny because she never mentions them at bedtime, just nap. Anyway, we did a water bottle full of "monster spray" for a little while, but the effectiveness of that eventually wore off, so we tried a different approach.

We got this book to read at our local library.

This book tackles behavior (which we're also working on) but basically let's the child tell the monsters what to do. I felt like it gave her a little control over her fear, and she really liked the book!

Since she liked the book so much, we also did a monster project.

Anything with paint and glue is a hit with with Audrey! She's totally into monsters with either 1 or 3 eyes too!

And right around the same time, I had to figure out something to make and donate to sell at the craft table at my daughter's school's bazaar that is coming up. Lots of people make quilts or knit and everything ends up being for adults. Since the bazaar is close to Christmas, I thought it would be fun to make something for them to sell for kids.

So that's where my friendly monsters came from! I have all kinds of felt and thread and a hot glue gun, so it didn't cost me anything to make them. They just took some time because they are all hand sewn. Audrey even helped me with the sewing. This, of course, made them take longer, but it was fun to show her how to sew and let her have a hand in making something that will go to support her school.

As you can see, they all have smiles and look friendly in an attempt to help ease the fear of monsters and make them into something that can be fun! And with Halloween coming up, all the monsters in our house are pretty appropriate if you ask me!

Four Seasons Handprint Craft

Audrey loves craft time, especially painting, so we do all kinds of projects in our house. And a lot of the time I spend on Pinterest is spent looking for new craft ideas, so I always have something new and interesting for her when she says, "Mommy, let's do a project!"

I pinned this awhile ago just because I love the change of seasons and thought it was beautiful, not because I had any intention of making it into a project for Audrey.

Then I saw this on Pinterest and it was like a choir of angels singing in my head!

An idea was born! So we got out the paint and got to work!

Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall!

A little brown paint on her hand and forearm and the tree was formed. When that was dry, she used her pinkie finger to make the Spring leaves, and her thumb to make the Summer and Fall leaves.

With some $3 frames from Walmart, they are now hung above the couch in the playroom and are officially my favorite project we've ever done!