And Then My Name Was MAMA: The Cardboard Boy

My days are mostly filled with such adventure, curiosity, creativity, laughter, and fun. With a toddler who has more energy than any Super Hero out there, our days get pretty interesting. Sometimes it is rice play, a tea party, a huge tent in the living room, playing with finger paints, play doh, or dancing on the couch (cushions removed) and performing somersaults on the cushions. Other days...well...let's just say as a Mama...and not a crafty one...I have to REEEAAAACCHHHH........for something interesting to do.

Today was one of those days. I recently opened and put together my daughters new Activity Jumper and had the big gigantic box sitting in my living room just waiting to be recycled. We were trying to think of things to do today other than TV, computer, or Mama's phone. (My son is a protege of his father when it comes to electronics.) This is good in ways but upsetting when, instead of being creative and/or expelling some of his ferocious energy, my toddler would rather have mind numbing contact with some type of electronic device.

This morning I was battling the electronics and decided to make good use of that gigantic box taking up what little space I have left in my living area. So......
I had my son lay down and I traced his little body. Next I cut out the tracing with scissors, really wish I had a razor..I had many Ally McBeal moments busting out in my head while I struggled to cut out his small frame from a thin cardboard box. All while having a cheery smile on my face for my son. I had to make it look fun and interesting to keep him interested. Once my struggles with the cardboard and scissors were over the fun began. I had Grayson pick what colors of construction paper he wanted to put on each body part. I plastered the glue and he stuck the paper. He had a blast with this. Then, more cutting. Much easier than my first cutting task, I simply cut the excess paper from the back of our cardboard boy. Next, Grayson chose the googly eyes, nose, and mouth. Using the googly eyes, Pom Poms, some foam paper, and cotton balls (for the whites of the teeth), we glued and taped giggling the whole time. The best part was the hair. We used a bag of paper shreds I had bought some time ago for introducing the color brown to my son...never used it until today. We glued handfuls of this onto the cardboard head. Last, Grayson insisted on adding buttons to the boys shirt, so we taped pom poms accordingly. By this point he was over the whole project so we wrapped it up and for our grand finale took photos before taping him to our sliding glass door.

I have to say, being a Mama who has the ideas but is not real crafty, I think I did alright.

*Photos a little Blurry because he kept moving and I was using my phone. Plus admittedly I am not the best photographer.