Back to school!

We've been back in school for two days and wow, is it hectic! I always forget just how much work elementary school is for the mom the kids. 

Tempe is in third grade and Helena is in second. I love their style, don't you? Helena is our style guru and she insisted on wearing the glasses. Perfect for the first day of school!

Kids being able to walk to school is kind of a big deal to me. Like, if we were house hunting and we found the perfect house but the kids couldn't walk to school, it would be a deal breaker. I can't stand the thought of having to drive every. single. day. #aintnobodygottimeforthat

So far they are happy with their teachers and classes! Here's to another year.

summer fun (or where I've been)

It's been quite a while since I posted anything!

When I started this blog, it was partly because I no longer posted at my kids eat off the floor. I thought a fresh start with a new format and new ideas would help.

I'm hoping that once school starts in two weeks I will get back on track!

Let me tell you about some of the fun things we've done this summer!

Park passports: We've visited four parks and two splash pads that aren't our usual go-to neighborhood park. The girls dutifully fill in their park passports after each visit!

Science: We've burst a watermelon using rubber bands, attempted a Rube Goldberg machine (it failed), melted a giant ice cube to get to rubber sea creatures, blown up a balloon with baking soda, made a doodlebot, built and destroyed a dam in our neighborhood park creek...

Field trips: One of my favorite things about summer is that it gives us the opportunity to go to all the many fun places in our area that we can't get to during the school year. This year we've gone to: the fairy forest, the SLC library, Hill Air Force Base museum, Pioneer Quarry Trail, Great Salt Lake Shoreline preserve in Layton, the farmer's market, movie in the park, hiking several times, the pioneer museum in Provo...

Vacations:  We've been totally spoiled this summer, with 10 days in Tennessee, four days in Washington DC, a weekend in Idaho Falls, and a weekend at our family cabin. 

We have two more weeks of summer and we're going to try to cram as much fun into it as we can!

How to start a kids art group

A few years ago, I was feeling frustrated with the after school activity market.

Our budget really didn't allow for me to have my kids in dance/tumbling/gymnastics/piano/whatever.

Luckily, they weren't really interested in any of those things. But I still felt like it was important for them to have some kind of enrichment after school (besides all the fun things we do together, of course!)

Thus was born the idea for a kids art group!

This is the perfect way to keep your kids busy and learning, without spending a ton of money.

The first step to starting your very own kids art group is to find a group of kids and moms that are interested in participating. This group is set up as a co-op, so every household takes turns hosting and providing the project. That means that the more families you involve, the less often each household has to host. BUT (and this is a big but!) if you have too many kids in the group, the quality of the projects you can do goes downhill. We found that 4-6 is the optimal number of kids to involve, but up to 8 is manageable. 

After forming a group, have a meeting to discuss all the logistics. Not only do you need to decided how often and how long to meet (we meet once a week for 45 minutes) but it's important to make sure everyone is on the same page about the projects. In our group, the host chooses what to do and provides everything needed for the project (except smocks). This works for a variety of budgets because when it's your turn to host, you can make the project as involved as you want. Mine have always tended to be on the simpler side and I generally do something based on a technique or famous work of art. I've even included books that go along with the projects we're working on that day (we read "Action Jackson" to go along with this Jackson Pollock inspired project.) Everyone has done something different with their turns.

Our very first art group: splatter painting like Jackson Pollock

Some last words of advice: the most important thing here is for kids to learn and create together. I like to tell my girls that you don't have to be a perfect artist to be an artist and enjoy art. Projects probably won't turn out the way you envision them, and that's ok! Have fun right along with them.

Here's a link to my art board on Pinterest. Have you ever formed a group like this? I'd love to hear about it!