The boys spent a good fifteen minutes exploring the different hoses on the fire truck. The tour, of sorts (for the boys anyway) was inside the fire truck. They got to see where the firemen sat on the way to a fire or emergency and were able to see some of the first aid supplies. Then came the time for the birthday boy to take his ride in the fire truck. Since there was only one other boy at the birthday party (our son) the firefighters asked if he would like to ride along with the birthday boy too! We … Continue reading →

The boys were enjoying themselves waiting in the non moving vehicle especially since they did not need to “buckle up.” Within a few minutes we saw the real life fire truck drive up into the park’s parking lot. The birthday boy’s mom was not back from getting hot tea, but we took the kids out to meet the fire truck and the firefighters (we did not want them to leave because no one was around). While the birthday boy was a little hesitant, my son excitedly ran up to the fire truck to get a closer look. At first the … Continue reading →

Like most boys, my three year old son has a somewhat obsessive interest in big trucks. On trash days, he runs to the door to watch the garbage trucks as they make stops along our street picking up and emptying the trash cans. He is always the first to point out the yellow school buses whether he spots one while we are driving or if one drives past our house. His fascination with fire trucks began when he and his cousin watched a short video about fire trucks during one of our many playdates. This fascination was realized on a … Continue reading →

The drive to the art center was quite lovely. We drove through one of my favorite neighborhoods in our area, one that I hope to live in someday (tree lined streets and unique older homes). When we arrived the first thing I noticed was that the parking lot was much fuller than it was the last time. While my husband got our son out, I got our nine month old daughter situated in my wrap carrier. We walked towards the education wing of the art center. I immediately noticed that there were small children exiting carrying portfolios like we had … Continue reading →

Within a few minutes the teachers called time and asked the children to get in line to wash their hands. As all the children left all the stations and got in line, my son took the opportunity to use the scissors at the collage station. I quickly re routed him in line so that he could wash his hands too. The last fifteen minutes of class were spent going through the art museum. There lots of small pieces that were interesting to me but my son could have cared less. The last gallery on the tour housed something rather impressive: … Continue reading →

My son was having so much fun painting at his two to four year old’s art class, that when I asked him if he wanted to use scissors, he told me no thanks. After he finished his second easel painting, he wanted to paint with the long bamboo extended paint brushes on the large (three or four tall and six to seven feet wide) paper canvas. This time he used yellow. As soon as the child using the blue moved on to something else, my son put down the yellow and picked up the blue. He painted contently using this … Continue reading →

As parents guided their toddlers to different art stations, I too led my son to something new to do. He chose the stamping station stocked with lots of rubber stamps and many colorful ink pads. After using a few different stamps and a couple different colors, he realized that stamping was more limited than he liked. We moved on. The next station he chose was really quite neat. Large paint brushes were attached to long bamboo sticks creating three very long paintbrushes. A large and long piece of paper was attached to the wall and on the floor were three … Continue reading →

My three year old son loves art. He loves to paint, draw, and build. When I saw an opportunity for him to take a one hour art class this summer at the local art center, I immediately signed him up for an art class two months in advance. I put the event into my digital calendar so that I would receive a reminder a day in advance. With anything out of the ordinary, if it is not in the calendar set with a reminder, I will forget about it. The day of his art class arrived, I was reminded the … Continue reading →