Monday, April 07, 2008

Playing at the Art Museum

On Friday we went down to the art museum and played in the Open Studio. We'd been there once, years ago, before Kate was born. (You can check out a card from the library that gives you free admission--is that cool or what?) Kate had a wonderful time painting, playing with clay, and stringing beads. Doug and I played with some ink and brayers (cool texture! I brought some home). There are a few easels set up in front of the big wall of windows. I loved the image of Kate in her cute little apron, standing at the easel painting, with the sunlight flooding in. (We'll definitely have to do that again, when I've got my camera back.) It reminded me of a phrase that my mom ran across once--"a hothouse of creativity." I think it might have been in an article on the Wyeth family. I told Doug, "This is what I want--a room with lots of windows, and a big table, and a sink." (Doug agreed that the sink was important.) Yep, that's what I want. I could spend a whole lot of time there.

They have these cases with supplies for different projects. Kate and I checked out the jewelry making case, and she quickly figured out how to string the beads on the wire. She was sitting stringing for quite a while, singing "Twinkle twinkle little star" quietly to herself. The next day she and I ran up to Artco and picked up a bead set. We got a Melissa and Doug set with brightly colored wooden beads and letters (this one). The wooden tray is cool but not really useful because there's no lid. We put the beads in a yogurt container. When we were playing with the beads together, Doug made a string with D-O-G. He showed it to Kate and asked her, "What's this word?" Kate looked at it and said "Dog!" Whoa. She can sort-of-sound-out some simple three-letter words with help (she does know all the sounds, very well), but this was pretty instantaneous, so she must have just recognized it. Either way, we were impressed.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow--what a little reader you've got on your hands!

The art museum trip sounds like oodles of fun, as does the bead-stringing. It's another grey day here today, so I think maybe we'll have to color it up a bit with some lively art projects. Thanks for the inspiration.

Mimi said...

Really? That's so cool. Check out a free pass. I've never heard that before.

Anonymous said...

That sounds really fun.

How exciting that she's recognizing words! Cool!

Anonymous said...

She's a smartie! I really want you to get a new camera SOON! Lol

Jaylene was given some of those pink fish beads. She promptly painted them different colors. Which surprised me as she loves pink.

Kathey said...

What a wonderful trip you had! I would have loved to sit and string beads with Kate and listen to her sing. And, how fun that she's starting to read.

YES, you do need a room like that. I hope there is one in your near future.

That "hothouse of creativity" was indeed referring to the Wyeth family. It might have been a National Geographic article. I remember really enjoying it.

I'm glad you shared those things even if your camera wasn't available.

Love, Mom