coloring

Coloring is an activity we do a lot in our house. As a child coloring was my absolute favorite activity. I used to beg my parents to color with me. Now I am 31 years old and I still enjoy coloring. I've found an easy way to color with the girls that works well for us. I use the following: crayons (all types), easel paper (mine is Melissa & Doug brand), tape and scissors. I unroll and large piece of easel paper and tape it to the table. Melody sits on her knees and Leah uses a booster seat. Next I draw an assortment of easy shapes and objects on the paper, usually with a dark crayon or a black marker. I like to draw kites, hearts, rainbows, trees, flowers, triangles, circles, balloons, stars, letters, words, houses, etc. Usually Melody ends up ordering me, "Make a big triangle! Now make a little heart. Now make a M for Melody!!!! And a L for Leah!!!"



Leah just began to color with Melody. It has been fun to include her in the art times. I laugh because half of the time she isn't looking at what she's doing with the crayon. Instead she's looking me, smiling, while her little arm moves back and forth with the lightest pressure. I give her a dark color in order for anything to show up on the paper. Otherwise she fusses because it's not working.



Melody will color for 30 minutes to a hour when she is in the groove. She has started attempting to stay in the lines with no prompting from me. It does not matter to me if she stays in the lines. Occasionally she stays outside of the lines, making a cool negative image of the object drawn. The table she sits at is right in the kitchen, so often I'm able to cook or clean while she works. Playing music helps her stay in the mode I think. Lately we enjoy listening to Waterdeep and The Cranberries. There is nothing sweeter than humming to the music as we're together and in our own right brained worlds. This last picture is some of Melody's recent work.