I am very excited to tell you about one of the common activities that we do when I baby sit the Barry children. They don’t watch any TV so that leaves them lots of room to be creative. Very often I will come into the house to start a night of babysitting and they will have pieces of paper and markers scattered all over the kitchen table while they diligently work on drawings. They don’t color in pictures that are already drawn for them, but they create their own…and very often they aren’t just creating a picture.
For example, below is a picture of something we created together. It was inspired by previous castles that they had been working on. From the pictures they had already drawn they began to cut out the drawings of the knights and bad guys and the weapons that the people had…these became game pieces. Then we took the pictures of the castles and made a road to connect them. It ended up being like a game board. There was even a princess to be rescued (thanks to me…it would have just been fighting for fighting’s sake if I hadn’t recommended the princess.) The castle ‘stage’ continued for a while…and they still love castles. Luckily they are living in France, so they can see a lot of real ones in person.
Most recently, at night, the older boys have been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with their parents before bed (and when I baby sit I get to read to them instead). The book has got them into a chocolate factory mind-set, so everything they talk about can some how be incorporated into the Barry Chocolate Factory. I think I have enjoyed it a little too much. Last night we each designed a candy making machine that would make something really cool for the chocolate factory. Reid’s made chocolate balls…sports balls. A soccer ball with white and dark chocolate…a basketball with orange and dark chocolate, other more colorful balls…that, I suppose, was supposed to be used for some kind of sport. Neil’s also made balls – an original idea of course - but just colorful ones. But my machine…it made fruits. Well, not just fruits, but it made fruit seeds. And the seeds are meant to be planted so that the fruits can grow. But they don’t grow real fruits of course! That would be absurd for a chocolate factory!
It makes fruit seeds that grow into fruits that are chocolate! Confused? Use your imagination! The “fruits” grow from the seeds, but they aren’t fruits at all…the are chocolate shaped fruits. The purpose is to trick parents into thinking that their children are really eating healthy, but instead they are really just eating chocolate :o) As you can see from the machine, the ingredients are added at the top, into the funnel. You will notice that there are cocoa beans as well as other ingredients that are necessary. Then, the machine does all the other work to create the magical seeds. If you pay attention to each bean’s path you should be able to figure out what kind of fruit seed is being produced. (there are also picture hints in the upper right-hand corner) Honestly, I think I had more fun than the boys did.
I think the moral of this story is that when you use your imagination things are way more fun…the best way to accomplish this is to not have a TV.
It is time that you meet the boys I baby sit for. Starting with the oldest, pictured with his Chocolate machine is Reid, he is 7 years old.
For example, below is a picture of something we created together. It was inspired by previous castles that they had been working on. From the pictures they had already drawn they began to cut out the drawings of the knights and bad guys and the weapons that the people had…these became game pieces. Then we took the pictures of the castles and made a road to connect them. It ended up being like a game board. There was even a princess to be rescued (thanks to me…it would have just been fighting for fighting’s sake if I hadn’t recommended the princess.) The castle ‘stage’ continued for a while…and they still love castles. Luckily they are living in France, so they can see a lot of real ones in person.
Most recently, at night, the older boys have been reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with their parents before bed (and when I baby sit I get to read to them instead). The book has got them into a chocolate factory mind-set, so everything they talk about can some how be incorporated into the Barry Chocolate Factory. I think I have enjoyed it a little too much. Last night we each designed a candy making machine that would make something really cool for the chocolate factory. Reid’s made chocolate balls…sports balls. A soccer ball with white and dark chocolate…a basketball with orange and dark chocolate, other more colorful balls…that, I suppose, was supposed to be used for some kind of sport. Neil’s also made balls – an original idea of course - but just colorful ones. But my machine…it made fruits. Well, not just fruits, but it made fruit seeds. And the seeds are meant to be planted so that the fruits can grow. But they don’t grow real fruits of course! That would be absurd for a chocolate factory!
It makes fruit seeds that grow into fruits that are chocolate! Confused? Use your imagination! The “fruits” grow from the seeds, but they aren’t fruits at all…the are chocolate shaped fruits. The purpose is to trick parents into thinking that their children are really eating healthy, but instead they are really just eating chocolate :o) As you can see from the machine, the ingredients are added at the top, into the funnel. You will notice that there are cocoa beans as well as other ingredients that are necessary. Then, the machine does all the other work to create the magical seeds. If you pay attention to each bean’s path you should be able to figure out what kind of fruit seed is being produced. (there are also picture hints in the upper right-hand corner) Honestly, I think I had more fun than the boys did.I think the moral of this story is that when you use your imagination things are way more fun…the best way to accomplish this is to not have a TV.
It is time that you meet the boys I baby sit for. Starting with the oldest, pictured with his Chocolate machine is Reid, he is 7 years old.
Then we have Neil, he is playing with Pokèmon cards…and don’t worry, he doesn’t always have the shirt on his head. Neil is 5 years old.
And last, there is Dean. Dean is almost 2 years old and this is one of the only pictures I have of him not sucking his thumb. I usually baby sit for him the most because his brothers are either in school or their mom wants to take the older boys out to do something without having to worry about the little one. I guess we shouldn’t tell him this or he might feel left out.
There is another little insight into my life here in Metz.
1 comment:
Cool! How often do you watch them?
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