Cutting paper - homeschooling 101

What exactly is it with scissors and toddlers?

I specifically bought my two year old some safety scissors so he can learn to manipulate them at will.

He's left-handed. They are plastic and don't fit right. He uses both hands and guess what, the scissors don't really cut. Which is probably the whole point.

So yesterday, as we were waiting for one of the planned visitors to show up, I gave him a small pair of the real scissors, and a flyer from the recycle bin, and showed him how to cut paper.

Delivered a little lecture too:

These scissors are only available to you when mommy is here.
Scissors only cut THIS paper.
Do not walk/run/play with the scissors.

He took them into both hands, and after a couple of trial and errors, he managed to make a nice, clean cut into the flyer. Right through the model's face.

The pride in his face, and the little giggle that followed, was priceless!

We cut paper for half an hour.

Then we put the scissors in a safe spot and the bits of paper in the recycle bin.

Mother's Day

I'm not big on any commercialized celebrations. But he grew this plant, and made the paper flower (with help!) at school, for Mother's Day. My little 2-year old...so cute.

Valentine's day card-exchange

My toddler has his first Valentine's Day party at his Montessori school next week. At the party, they are invited to exchange cards with their classmates.

Although I don't have anything against Valentine's Day in particular, the whole commercialization aspect of it does kind of tick me off. I keep thinking about landfill sites for some reason....

Anyway, I thought about not participating in this card exchange at all but then figured Benjamin may have his own opinion about that, even subconsciously. I mean, he's only 22 months old, but still. His head teacher there is an absolute sweetheart, and I know she'll make a big effort to make the whole experience fun, and educational too.

So, I decided to attempt making our own cards, or more precisely, have Ben make his own cards. They're his classmates and friends after all.

Besides, I needed a diversion anyway to keep him busy and occupied indoors during this never-ending deep freeze of late.

But remember, he is a toddler. This means that a) his attention span to make these cards wasn't long (but longer than I thought it would be) which b) required several days of potato-stamping in order to complete enough cards for all the kids in his class and c) did make a bit of a mess resulting in d) somewhat imperfectly shaped hearts which are however e) rather charming.

Of course, mommy was there to lend a hand occasionally...

So here's the proof: Benjamin made potato stamp cards to exchange with his classmates at the Valentine's Day party:

Marble magnets

I made these because I saw the idea on a website/blog and I got addicted. EASY! The Swiss ones are going to my parents for Christmas. I got the imagines out of magazines and old greeting cards, including Christmas cards.

For instructions on how to make these, click here