Pastels

I love arts and crafts, but I haven't done a lot of them with the kids because it requires quite a bit of mess and they often are competing for my attention during it--leaving everyone frustrated.  At this point though, the youngest is nearly three...the oldest 'baby' our family has ever had, making it easier to do these activities all the time now.

My parents offered to purchase a few of our home school wants this fall, so I bravely added pastels to my list.  If you've never worked with them, they are a lot of fun.  They write like crayons, but then you can do neat blending.  They can be quite the mess though!  I started by showing them how they work and then let them take off.

Nate got to help me on my picture, so he was staying out of the girls' work.

I had the gals stay in their nightgowns to work that morning, in case we got a little messy.

Kate, blending on her flower.

Gabby's picture was a bit more abstract.