When we first moved in, I wasn't sure what I wanted our front room used for. I originally wanted it to be a nice, formal living room with comfy chairs and lots of books. But instead of a library (which we hopefully will have some day), it became the office/art room. It's a sore sight to walk into, but it's one of my favorite rooms. Madi's always been quite the little artist, but it was always such a pain to get out all the art supplies anytime she wanted to make something. Now she's got everything she needs at her fingertips. Plus, it's not a big deal to leave out projects she's not finished working on it. Her space does get pretty messy (which drives me absolutely crazy), but with lots of threatening, she manages to have it clean by the end of each day.
Their art space:
My desk sits against the other wall, so usually Madi will grab my office chair instead of sharing with Elle. They use the white paper from my printer and a big container of colored construction paper under my desk. The top 2 drawers to the left of their table holds all sorts of sissors, tape, glue sticks, stickers, pencils, erasers, crayons, stapler, etc. The bottom drawer has beads for necklace making. In the basket underneath the table are all sorts of workbooks, coloring books, white boards, writing tablets, lined paper, etc. It's not at all organized how I wish it were, but it works for now.
It's just been so much fun to see all the projects that Madi comes up with- all on her own. She runs to her art table almost every morning with a project in mind and then again as soon as she gets home from school. She's made books, calendars, animals, cards, collages, frames, hats, jewerly, and spent many an hour working on her handwriting, spelling, and numbers. I love how self motivated she is. And I especially love how all projects are done completely on her own. She usually doesn't even like me in the room when she's working on a big project- surprising Spencer and I afterwards is probably one of her favorite parts about the whole thing.
This was the project she made after school today. She came up with the idea for making the hat and I let her watch a tutorial online for how to do it. And of course she had to dress to fit the occasion!
On Sunday while I was frantically getting everything ready (we have 9am church), Madi whipped me up a collage of Christ. She picked out an Ensign from our magazine basket, got her scissors, and carefully cut out several pictures, then glued them on just so. I loved it and displayed it in my relief society lesson that day (on the back is a larger picture of Christ).
Later that afternoon, Madi made paper plates for us to eat on. She decorated them beautifully with flowers. But then after discovering they were smaller than she wanted, she turned one plate into a kite, then later used them all to make a caterpillar.
I used to be so stingy with my tape, glue, and paper, but it's been amazing to watch Madi's imagination grow with having unlimited access to all the supplies she needs.
