November 16, 2015 – Tonja's Gatherings

General

THREE THINGS…

November 16, 2015 by tonja 4 Comments

FIRST THING…..

It seems I’m always sharing things with you, my FB friends. But, when I find a ‘treasure’ or an unusual piece or a the perfect gift for someone, I just want others to share in it. I guess I wish other folks would do the same and share some of their great finds!

Nevertheless, today, I want to share with you a Nativity set I found for Levi.

I found this in the toy section at TJMaxx. It is made by Melissa and Doug, whose wooden toys are always superb, long lasting and full of play! I paid $19.99 for mine, but I think they retail for about $30.00. It comes with all these pieces and then there is a stable in 3 pieces. Levi was able to put it together by himself. It has all the necessary characters to follow along with the Christmas story…Mary, Joseph, Jesus, shepherds, sheep, Wise Men, and angel. All wood construction. And remember, you can always Google for a coupon before you buy!

I did not intend to give this set to Levi until after Thanksgiving, but made the mistake of not hiding it quick enough! But, as you can see…he got right into playing with it. I don’t suppose it matters too much if he took Jesus on a ride in the back of a garbage truck …at least he let the angel follow along from the bed of a pick up truck to keep an eye on things! The fact that he knows the characters and knows the part they played in the birth of our Savior is enough for me! The joys of little boys!

I checked and you can get them at Toys R Us, Target, Kohl’s, and Amazon..and TJMaxx and sometimes Tuesday Morning. Melissa and Doug toys are sold lots of places.

SECOND THING…

I am such a big believer in exposing children to art….in showing them how to do art…then letting them explore and figure out what works for them. This does not require any thing fancy or expensive. However, it does require patience on your part and a willingness to step back and not ‘help’. We do art of some kind every day Levi is with me. He has his own supplies and they are readily available for him. On this day, I had found a large wooden letter in my craft closet that I don’t remember buying. I had it laying on the art table. He asked me what we were going to do with it. I had to think a minute and told him we were going to cut and past the most beautiful colors we could find! And, so out comes a stack of old magazines, and we set about finding patches of pretty colors we liked. It took a little while before I could get him to see the color…and not just the picture. But, he finally got it. We cut and pasted for the longest time. As we worked he began to cut triangles and squares and circles out of the colors. It was such fun! We glued them all on the letter. I taught him about overlapping to cover up the wood. After it all dried, I put a couple of coats of Mod Podge on it to seal it. Then I sanded all the rough spots where it wasn’t even and ended with another coat of Mod Podge. And showing him how to peel the glue off his fingers was a hoot! Fun and a great learning experience. (Another Levi/Lulu project).

THIRD THING……

Levi loves trucks and cars. Big ones he can drive around…and little ones all over the house…literally! He keeps most of them in my studio where I try to contain most of the clutter…but he is allowed a little stash our bedroom. He and Don have put that road tape down and they have races in there after he gets ready for school. Quite an incentive to get the clothes on and teeth brushed and hair combed, so there will be time left for racing. He is very specific about their placement…there are 2 groups who are in perpetual race-offs. So one group overnights it under a chair and the other group under a footstool.

Lately, I’ve seen some cars stashed in other unusual places…and started documenting just where a 4 year old decides is a good place to hide a car! It’s like a happy surprise when I run across another one stuck in a place that so amuses me.

Under the ear of the zebra skin rug in the library….