Marshmallows and Toothpicks

Back home in California, Sam has asked to continue the daily arts and crafts tradition we fell in to in the UK. (Thank heavens for craft blogs, because I would have run out of ideas long ago.)

The source for this project is No Time for Flash Cards. A wonderful resource for parents of preschool age children and toddlers.

Sam quickly got the hang of sticking the toothpicks into the marshmallows, but she mostly constructed objects in 2D. First thing she did was a sort of pentagon.

She then constructed something more… interesting. I think she said it was a city. Also, she started to get the idea of building into the third dimension, but the toothpicks didn’t always cooperate.

She later glued this structure to a piece of construction paper and it is now languishing, derelict, on the table in her room, like some lunar probe stranded on the moon. It seems that my next project is to come up with some creative way of managing Sam’s growing art gallery. This blog might be one of them. They say that for kids of this age, art is all about process, not product. Sam is definitely process-oriented, but she doesn’t let go of her oeuvres easily. The other day I picked up a scrap of paper from the floor and tossed it in the bin. Sam shouted, “No, Mommy! That’s not for the recycling bin! That’s a car! For my bears!”

The scrap did indeed have a number of wheels drawn on it. And so it went back onto Sam’s table.

I love the make-believe mind, but I do long for a tidy house. Maybe I can get Sam to make me one out of marshmallows and toothpicks. On second thought, never mind.