My two littles are almost jumping up and down with excitement; our county fair begins this weekend! Fun rides, yummy treats, and cool exhibits to look at.
I wanted to do a bit of a shout-out for 4-H. In our county kids as young as age 3 can join 4-H. Short Pants has done projects every summer for three years now, and Pita Pocket is very excited to join next year (his birthday was just past sign-ups this year). It is crazy easy to do projects with little ones and so much fun. Kids ages 3-school aged are called Cloverbuds and have a small number of project categories to pick from. Kids in grades kindy-2 are in Mini 4-H and have a few more categories to choose from.
This year Short Pants chose to do "horseless horse" which is basically learning a bit about horses and then making a collage. He really enjoyed going through a horse magazine we bought and picking his favorite pictures to cut out:
Pita Pocket said he needed to make a poster too, so I gave him an old catalog to work with. He's placed a high priority lately on learning to use "real scissors" (versus the ones that *only* cut paper) so this was a good chance for him to practice:
(and yes - I know - AGAIN with the fall/winter clothing choices!!!)
Short Pants also chose to do a sewing project. The description of the category suggests that children make a poster showing different things used in sewing. We've always thought that's a bit limiting, so for the past two years Short Pants has stitched on a piece of burlap that we've then glued to his poster. This year I thought he was ready for something more difficult, so I taught him how to backstitch. I was shocked at fast he caught on! I did just a couple of stitches with him and after that he insisted on doing it completely by himself:
I drew an "S" in pencil on the linen for him before he started:
He was SO proud of himself when he finished! We used a zip tie to attach his hoop to the poster so that afterwards we can take it off to hang in his room. Short Pants has also already drawn a picture of a dragon that he wants to embroider next!
Pita Pocket kept himself busy by getting in even more cutting practice. He used my scissors to snip bits of embroidery thread. He liked it so much he's asked to do it several times since then:
Rounding out the 4-H projects was a monster zucchini from the the plant that Short Pants has helped tend this year and also a flower that he grew in his wildflower raised bed:
Of course, someone else had to pose with the monster zucchini too. He said he was a bear:
If you have littles I definately encourage you to check out the 4-H opportunities in your area. It is such a great opportunity for learning and a wonderful boost to self esteem when they see their projects displayed at the fair for all to see. Younger children receive ribbons for each project, so that is part of the fun too!