Paper, Paper, Paper

Almost every day Jake and Bentley are busy with paper and scissors. Or paper and tape. Or paper and pencil. Their creativity is awesome to watch.

One week they created locks. Bentley was the designer; Jake copied his brother's design. Bentley directed me to cut a ring out of paper, then he attached a long strip to the ring. He put the ring over a door knob and taped the strip across the door jam. He called it a lock, but it was more of a tamper barrier--you'd know if anyone entered. It wouldn't really stop you from entering.

Then they moved on to what they called gates. They taped together thin strips of paper and taped them across the doorways and the staircase. Bentley created a thirty foot long strip. The boys use a lot of Scotch tape. I ordered ten 1000" rolls on amazon.com early in the summer. The children go through one roll every month. It's cheap entertainment.

Jake continues to print money. Now he writes numbers on it. Bentley made some more bookmarks and he drew butterflies and flowers on them. They were really nice.


Bentley made a lot of hats. He made one for everyone in the household. I can't locate any right now. Jake made a watch.

The boys made multi-page books. They used a lot of tape on that project. Bentley had great-grandma help him (she spelled words for him) write stories in his book. Jake put a lot of random letters in his book and then asked me to read them to him. Sometimes the letters almost spelled a word, so I'd incorporate that into the story otherwise I had to make everything up. Viva made a book, too. Jake gave me one of his books to use for math. Periodically he'd inquire if I'd used it yet. I finally used it last Saturday when my math tutee was over.

I showed the children how to use a stapler to bind their books, but their fingers are too little and not strong enough to staple through multiple sheets of thicker paper. They are happy with the tape approach.

Last week the boys cut small rectangles of black paper and folded them in half (see photo). They threw them off the top landing and watched them float and twirl down to the floor. They called them super fliers and handed out a couple each to the adults in the house. They had a lot of fun with their little pieces of paper.

A couple of days later Kara gave the trio coffee filters and showed them how to cut out snowflakes. Again they threw them off the top landing to watch them float.

Bentley has been working on his knight costume again. Months ago he made a dragon shield and sword. This week he made another, smaller sword and a spear. He created a new helmet, too. Then he worked on a belt which wasn't so successful because paper belts don't flex at all. I gave him a fabric belt. Kara wants to buy the children some yards of felt to make costumes with. I think it's a great idea, but I'm not sure if their scissors will cut felt.



Needless to say sometimes the table surfaces in our home get covered with paper projects. Kara purchased a small shelf and I bought baskets to go on the shelves. (Kara says my baskets are ugly and she's looking around for something more attractive.) The children are encouraged to store their finished and ongoing projects in their baskets. The boys' baskets are nearly overflowing. Viva's not yet.