Daniel the Artist

I really thought that my first blog about Daniel making art would be discussing the walls he decorated or something like that. It turns out that my busy boy really enjoys making art. He must have reached some inner peace recently because he is much calmer these days, and he has a much longer attention span. I think it might have to do with our switch in childcare. He now goes to a small daycare at a local business, and he is totally worn out when he gets home. He loves it there. Anyway, this morning Daniel was quite interested in drawing. He probably spent about 1.5 hours this morning before 10 a.m. drawing, coloring, and playing with PlayDoh. He really wanted to play with all the pens, pencils, and highlighters in the lazy susan pencil holder. I was a little nervous about letting him go at it, but he did quite well. I kept having thoughts of him grabbing the plant in the picture or climbing up on the counter to get closer to the microwave, but he just sat on the stool and worked. It turns out that he really enjoys taking the tops off and putting them back on. I made a note to get some washable markers for him. Also note the two screwdrivers on the drawing. Daniel thinks these are just as cool as the pens, and yes, I do keep a pair of screwdrivers in our kitchen writing utensil storage.

After we did some kitchen drawing time, I decided to really go out on a limb, and I set him up with a drawing station in the laundry room while I ironed. I was very nervous that it would not go well, but Daniel sat on his stool and played for another 30 minutes. Just to make sure that he did not get bored, I pulled out the PlayDoh about halfway through. I hope you enjoy these staged photos of the set up. You will have to imagine a smiling boy on the stool.

I'm planning on constructing some sort of art clothesline that I'm going to put in the laundry room or the playroom. Daniel makes lots of art at school. I thought it would be fun to have some of it on display. I wonder if his interest in art will be something that lasts for a while?