Beauty and the Beast
Put mom's favorite things together and you get this weeks project...
Flowers, glitter, sparkly paper and jewels, some pretty lights to boot and you get...
A rose in a cloche like from Beauty and the Beast.
Who knew a pop bottle could look so good.
Bye Bye Birdie
Ok so I know the musical, "Bye Bye Birdie", has nothing to do with actual birds;
but mom doesn't. 🤫
She loves all the birds in the backyard.
We found a birds nest in the tree while we were cleaning up for fall.
So this week we made a bird craft.
The only musical I could find that would fit with a bird theme was, "Bye Bye Birdie".
Annie
A little clay work this week.
Mom has been enjoying using cookie cutters to make rolled cookies with me.
I thought I would use that to our advantage on this weeks project.
We rolled the dough and cut all our shapes.
That aloud for individual parts to be painted solid colours;
so, there was no worrying on her part about getting the wrong colour on the wrong part.
Then we glued it all together and VIOLA!
The Lion King (Live Action)
A little painting, a little gluing, a little singing...
“It means no worries, for the rest of our days.”
Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat
Thought we would try a mixed media project this week.
It started with sorting some fabric so we could pick what we needed.
Mom loved looking at the colours and feeling the textures of the fabric and then sorting it in to piles.
Then after I cut the pieces I told her we had to sew them with my machine.
This was the best moment....
She got all excited and said...
"Ok, I have to show you what to do with my foot.... I have to put it like this and push it down",
she was showing me on the kitchen floor.
I said, "Do you mean to push the pedal on the sewing machine to make it work?"
That was it! That was what she wanted to do....
so up to the sewing room we went where she pressed the peddle and I guided the fabric.
Mom use to love to sew and made us the most elaborate costumes for our dance troupe.
Clearly the sewing struck a memory today. That made the whole project worth while.
After the sewing we still had to do some spirograph background and a little masked painting.
Then the crowning moment of putting the multicoloured coat we had sewn
onto the canvas and shape it for a 3d effect.
The Five Pennies
This week I thought we would try some cookies because mom loves helping me get bake.
Then we tried some stringing beads for
some fine motor work on our craft.
Both great successes
Prior to watching the movie.
Danny Kaye can still make her laugh.
The Greatest Showman
"The Noblest Art Is That Of Making Others Happy."
What a fitting quote for what this project is about.
The crafts themselves are all well beyond mom now;
Yet, we persist.
She loves the time together.
It doesn’t matter what we do as long as it is together.
She adores walking around the house and looking at all the things
That we make together.
No matter what in her eyes they are beautiful.
Fantasia
It was a family type weekend so the little ones joined in this week music/craft/movie activity.
Looking for a musical movie that entertains a wide variety... look to Disney of course.
I decided on Fantasia as it has a little of something for everyone...
Fairies to dinosaurs and everything in between.
Of course Isaac needed his craft to be “Mario” themed instead. 🙄🤣
Paint Your Wagon
.... and so we did! 😁
Mom really enjoyed colouring the craft sticks and put patterns on the fabric.
We even made little blanket and pillows to put in the back of our wagon.
Oklahoma
A multi-technique piece for this weeks project.
First I masked the canvas so Mom could paint without worrying she was painting the wrong spots.
Then we put on our shiny little surrey and added it’s fringe on top by gluing on a pretty piece of rickrack.
Next we put on lots of craft glue and stuck down dried flowers and leaves to look like the straw.
Finally we put on the paper doll characters that we found on
Pinterest that have the costumes of the characters in the movie.
Another piece that makes her smile.
Flower Drum Song
Funny what old movies you can find on streaming services.
Great blast from the past from Amazon.
Mom loved the fan craft;
(Inspired by the song, “Fan Tan Fannie”)
Especially the red one;
And especially because she could use the fan to make herself cool.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
I love that friends and family are following our weekly projects and investing by making suggestions.
This week we used a suggestion from a dear friend and did Chitty Bang Bang.
Mom loved watching me construct the paper car convinced it was for my grandson.
Then I had her paint the frame; as always a few sparkles thrown in to brighten her day.
When we put in the background and added the car she was so excited that
“Our little guy” would love to look at this picture that we made.
Hamilton
Usually we watch oldies that might trigger a memory for mom;
But this week I couldn’t resist picking one for me.
Mom still enjoyed the movie (the part she stayed awake for that is).
The craft was a hit though.
She got to paint the wooden base first.
Then she poured glass paint all over the piece of glasses.
I put the cricut cut stencils on for her and then we mounted the glass in the wood.
Because it is a tea light holder and has a candle in it
She decided it belonged with our silver candles from Les Miserable
Now proudly standing between the two candles.
Carousel
After finding the easiest craft ever for Canada day I found the hardest craft ever for today.
Too much time on Amazon resulted in a (gasp) PURCHASED craft!
I couldn’t resist this little wooden carousel to put together;
After all mom loves puzzles.
Oh my! I had no idea. Well at least I had fun putting it together
While she had fun sitting by me and holding the pieces for me.
Either way she has the carousel now to look at all week.
My favourite thing about these projects is how she looks at all of them
And verbalized remembering us making them.
Oh Canada!
A bonus project this week for our National Holiday...
What happens when you paint pour in your salad spinner
And then spin it around really fast?
You get a super cool spun acrylic pour!
Happy Canada Day Everyone! 🇨🇦
Les Miserables
This week mom was looking at one of her magazines. She looks through the same ones over and over again each time thinking they are new. As she was paging through it something twigged in her memory. She say the words “Les Miserable”, it was just an ad for something but suddenly she asked if we could watch it. I promised her it could be our movie theme on the weekend.
I started thinking about what craft I could possible inspire from a musical so deep and dark. Suddenly I thought of the candlesticks and the symbolism in the story. I wondered if she would understand the idea of symbolism anymore.
The weekend appeared and our movie day was upon us. I brought up information about the story on my ipad and we talked about the story. I showed her a picture of candlesticks and we talked about what they meant in the story and how important they were. I truly don’t think she grasped much of the conversation but on we went to make the craft.
Like every week when all else fails make sure there are sparkles; so I did.
Then we watched the movie... “Our candlesticks are much prettier then theirs.”; became the focus of discussion for the majority of the movie. 😁😂
The Music Man
A lovely summer day to work on our weekly theme outside on the patio.
Lots of glue and sparkles were the focus today’s activity.
The King and I
Stencilled acrylic pour and spin was a very messy approach to this weeks art therapy.
So simple and yet effective, engaging and fun for mom.
South Pacific
Musical themed weekends for mom continue. When I started this with her it was just a whim to spend some time on a rainy day. Now it is a highlight for her each week. There is not much she remembers anymore but when I boot up the sound track and get out the craft supplies each weekend she really lights up. As she continues to decline it gets harder to do a meaningful craft with her but she is happy to help me with any craft I will let her. Keeping things simple pieces she can use a glue stick on and using anything that sparkles always makes the craft a hit.
7 Brides for 7 Brothers
This was a challenging one to come up with a craft activity for.
It turned into more of a glue/puzzle type activity but we made do.
I have started quilling lately and may have gotten carried away practicing quilling techniques
as I prepared for this weeks activity.
I created the pieces using quilling and then mom helped put all the pieces together into the diorama.
We used pastels to colour the matte frames around the diorama to make it look like they were on stage;
finally we put lights into the diorama so when it lights up the silhouette of the dancers are accentuated.
Singing in the Rain,,,
is an old favourite for mom with some the actors she still remembers by sight if not by name.
This week we created a mobile of umbrella’s in the rain
With a header of music.
She loved folding the paper, choosing colours, putting on the stickers and listening to the music.
The umbrellas were a little hard for her but she handed me the pieces and the tape
and I put them together for her.
The header was supposed to be an open air frame with the music floating in it;
But, she actually expressed that she didn’t like t that way;
That something was missing in the back.
So we put a silver piece of paper behind the notes
To close in the frame.
Now she loves it.
I love that she communicated something she wanted!
Fiddler on the Roof
I’ve been doing musical themed weekends for mom. She use to love the going to live theatre and musicals were her preferred entertainment. We’ve been listening to the soundtrack while doing a craft inspired by something in the movie. Then we watch the movie after.
This week was, “Fiddler on the Roof”. She loves the song, “Sunrise, Sunset”, so we did a 3D nature painting of one. As it was a 3D nature painting it also allowed us the extra activity of going outside to collect nature items to add to our painting.
What a great multi-sensory memory activity this was.
Inside and outside.
Sound, sight, touch.
Music and art.
Tactile painting and nature collecting.
A little exercise while we walked outside collecting our nature items.
And the additional memory work remembering parts of a movie she has seen a thousand times.
This week was, “Fiddler on the Roof”. She loves the song, “Sunrise, Sunset”, so we did a 3D nature painting of one. As it was a 3D nature painting it also allowed us the extra activity of going outside to collect nature items to add to our painting.
What a great multi-sensory memory activity this was.
Inside and outside.
Sound, sight, touch.
Music and art.
Tactile painting and nature collecting.
A little exercise while we walked outside collecting our nature items.
And the additional memory work remembering parts of a movie she has seen a thousand times.
We’re Off to See the Wizard...
I wish.
Instead we stayed 🏡 because well COVID.
We did however see the Wizard on the tv.
This week’s theme was, “The Wizard of Oz”.
When we have mom at the grocery story she loves to buy magazines.
She saw this one quite awhile ago (pre-covid and then some).
She obsessively reads the same magazines over and over again.
The benefit of memory loss is it’s a new magazine everyday. 🤫
So this week she has been reading this magazine everyday;
thereby my inspiration for the week.
We’ve off course been spending all our time home with our current global crisis
so what more approrpiate craft that says;
“There’s No Place Like Home”!
Mary Poppins
Came across a great idea today... activities that are connected to movies.
Today we listened to the Soundtrack of “Mary Poppins”, while we made kites out of glitter and hung them in the window.
Then we watched the movie.
Made for an very enjoyed extended activity.
Today we listened to the Soundtrack of “Mary Poppins”, while we made kites out of glitter and hung them in the window.
Then we watched the movie.
Made for an very enjoyed extended activity.