Thanks Giving Message with Scratch Art

 I am sure all of us specially the parents and the kids must have seen the attractive art boards being displayed in those toy shops. They look like a black board and when scratched with an object or our nail, leave behind those colourful lines. The boards are actually magnetic and can be erased and reused.

Then there are the ready-made scratch art papers available in the market. This is the one we made at home this time.

I had a note in my son’s diary to help my child make a thanks giving message on a cut out of a leaf. I had the message ready after some Google searching and was ready to go back home, get my child color some paper and white the message over that. One of my friends gave me an idea to do it in a different manner – The scratch art or paper etching.

I called up my son and told him we would make a card for his mam with magic!!!

Here it goes.

Step 1: Take a blank sheet of paper. Try to use a thicker one. Ask your child to fill it up with colors of his/her choice. Children love this part the most. 

The very idea that they just have to scribble all over it without any boundaries or color directions fills them with excitement. 

I preferred filling up some left over white patches after my son was done.

Step 2: Now, my son is currently mad over water colors. He also likes using black color – may be because he rarely gets to use it. 

Place the sheet over a newspaper and ask the child to fill it up with the black poster color. 

Make sure that it is not diluted and try to make it as thick as possible.

 Step 3:

Let it dry. It was the most difficult part for me. 

The kiddo came asking me every 2 minutes if it was done.

Step 4:

Turn the sheet on other side and draw the outline of shape you want to cut. We made a simple leaf. Actually, I put dots and ask my son to join them. It was for his school and thus obviously I did not want it to be messed up. 

Cut the shape along the outlines. The kid has now understood that it is the job for grownups.

Step 5:

Take a sharp object (not too sharp to tear or cut through the paper) and draw your imagination. Toothpicks are the most common choice. We had a message to write, so I wrote it. We used the back or out paint brush. Make a few stars or smileys here and there to make it look alive.

Here it was all ready:

The card might not look very neat and professional. I also forgot to add his name and ended with messing it up with writing followed by trying a colored tape. 

When it comes to his homework and projects, I make him do the stuff he can. It does not make his projects look the best in class, but then he gets to know the effort it takes and he also enjoys exploring. Plus, my purpose of not doing my child homework is also resolved. Yes, we are supposed to help our kids in their assignments not do the job for them.

The kiddo was obviously not happy with me doing all the magic and thus I gave him the left over sheet and he went on scribbling. I am definitely going to try it again with him and let him make some nice magic drawing. I am sure he would be telling his mam and friends that he made the card with magic!

A Night Full Of Adventure

This goes back to my childhood days. I was at my cousin's house enjoying summer vacations. We used to go for a morning walk - only the kids.

As the lights of house were switched off, the chit-chat started.

After sometime, the barbecue serious and we narrated some incidents of theft and murders we had heard around us. The worst part was, the incidents were either directly about our houses or about our close friends. Like any teenagers, who first start the ghostly talks and then themselves shiver their wits out, we were extremely afraid.

Suddenly, we remembered, Bua Ji had asked us to switch off the water motor which was running. None of had the courage to go to the room at very end of house, open the bathroom which also opened in balcony and switch off the motor. But then, it had to be done or get scolded like hell in the morning. After long discussions, we finally decided to do the task TOGETHER.

We somehow gathered the courage to get out of our bed. Four of us, three girls and one boy, held our hands and made a line. I still remember the grip of our hands. We were holding each other as tightly as possible. We switched on the light of our room and took a deep breath.

Then, we again had a long discussion that now since the lights were on, either of us could go and do it. But then, all of us were scared to step out of room alone. We feared that someone one be hiding in the drawing room to kill us. We even imagined some goons waiting for us in the balcony so that they can make out mouth shut and loot the house.

 

Image Source - Pintrest

We marched out into the drawing room - again together holding hands. The switchboard of drawing room was in the darkest corner and at a low height. I do not remember how many minutes we took to reach that and turn on the light.

The next task was not the next bedroom. Thankfully, it's switchboard was just besides the door and we turned on the light by standing outside only. Once we went inside and looked at the bathroom which had our target 'Motor Switch', we looked at each other in horror. "What if the lock of balcony gate was left open by mistake?”

The bathroom was suddenly opened and we switched off the MOTOR. We all were relieved. But still, we had a much harder task ahead - switch off all lights and go back to our room! Just then Bua Ji came to or rescue - "what are all of doing here and why are all lights in house on?", she asked. We had no answer and she considered it our prank. We were directed to go back and sleep ASAP fearing the late wake up next morning for the walk. We were more than delighted and ran back to our beds before she could do the honor of switching off all lights.

Till date, I have no idea how in world we could have done that brave task if we were not together in the house that day..