Rainy Day Project

Cole's friend, Fintan, had a birthday party the other day. I took Cole, Wayne, and Heather. They all had a terrific time playing in Fintan's nice, big, flat backyard which contains a toddler friendly playground and a huge, built-into-the-ground sand box bordered by big rocks for climbing. There was grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, and Fintan's Mom, Sylvia, had made homemade buns and rolls in addition to the birthday cake. I think Sylvia makes bread for her family every day, early in the morning. It was a great birthday. Fintan turned 4. He was very excited.

Anyway, being at Fintan's birthday made me start thinking ahead to Wayne's birthday coming up in about a month. It will be coming up close after The Big Move and The Start of School. It will be a transitional period for all of us. Wayne wants to invite friends and have games and all that traditional birthday kid stuff. With a Batman theme. (Sorry Brian, Batman wins this time)

Yesterday was a rainy, rainy day so I decided to harness some of W,C,H's indoor energy and put it to good use. Wayne wants to have a pinata at his party, so we got started on a homemade one. It was our first foray into the messy world of papier-mache.

The King Arthur cookbook Grammie gave us has some kid projects and recipes for things like playdough and this recipe we used for papier-mache paste. Wayne is stirring out the lumps as it cools enough for us to work with.

While the paste cooled some more (it took a long time) we made strips of newspaper.

Heather had a great time ripping up newspaper. It was like a toddler dream come true. Little specks of newspaper everywhere.

We used a big balloon as a form. Everyone got their hands in on the project - dipping the strips into the paste and then layering them onto the balloon until it was covered. Make sure you notice Heather getting in on the action down there under Wayne's arms. She wasn't about to be left out of this delightfully gooey fun. Actually, she did a pretty good job of pressing the paper strips onto the balloon. She understood what to do just from watching her brothers.

During this whole process I was dreading the clean-up, but it actually was pretty easy, thanks to the newspaper we had spread all over the table. Not as much got on their clothes or the floor as I had feared, (aprons packed and moved) everyone just needed a quick hand wash and they were as good as new. Now the pinata has to dry for 24 hours before we decide whether or not it needs another layer. I'm not sure how strong it should be to challenge a group of blindfolded 7 year olds, whacking at it with a bat.

Stay tuned for a future pinata chapter - painting Batman on it. I know you'll be riveted!