More from the Backyard

Ezra has come up with some great ideas to keep the kids busy this summer. We call Tuesdays our "Creative Projects" day. On these days, Ezra sets up supplies and instructions with a few starter ideas. Then we turn them loose in the backyard.

Our first project back in June was pinatas. They had balloons, newspaper strips, and paper-mache paste. They needed some help to get doing, but seemed to enjoy the gooey mess. They finished the paper-mache part over three or four days, but they don't seem motivated to decorate the pinatas or break them (even though we already bought some candy to fill them). I think they just don't want to destroy their hard work.

The next project was "Fort Richards". They got old sheets, clothespins, blank t-shirts, markers, and anything they could scrounge out of our recycling bins. We thought that once they had their fort set up, they would happily play in it. It turns out that for them, all of the fun was in the building and they weren't quite sure what to do with it once it was built.

Presenting . . . "Fort Richards":
Soldiers guarding their fort:
Check out their t-shirts. You can tell from Brendan's upside-down name that they were colored while the soldiers were wearing them.