Invitations.

I love the Play At Home Mom blog--especially their idea of "invitations". Essentially, it's just setting out some interesting stuff and letting the kids react and interact with it in their own time and in their own way.

This was invitation #1 this week. It doesn't say anywhere what exactly the recipe is for, but Brooklyn totally knew!

I was pretty impressed with the lack of guidance she needed. She asked a few questions, but did probably 90% of it herself, including cooking it.

Sam wasn't interested at first, but then decided he wanted to make another batch on his own.

Both kids ended up picking red for their color, and then spent an hour playing with it...

...including the idea of scanning it!

Invitation #2--charcoal. Boy, I was not prepared for this one.

They went right for the rocks, then the paper.

Then the dishes.

Then I reminded Brooklyn about her art presentation and that she needed to do her poster. So she grabbed it and covered it in charcoal. By the time the kids were done, the kitchen was COVERED in charcoal (as were the kids--I have proof, photos of a naked girl covered from literal head to toe in it), and my blood pressure was through the roof. I definitely should have tried this outside first, as I know I said some things I shouldn't have--"Look at the mess you're making!" and the like. Sigh. One day I hope to be "at one" with the mess and the fact that it only took 10 minutes to clean it up...

Invitation #3. I wanted to do something that Sam would appreciate--and oh he did. Brook never touched it, she just said, "Momma, you need to clean up your mess." Sigh.

Now to figure out what to do for next week...hmmm...