Sec just turned four, which means it is party time again. And this year, I decided to make a pinata. A poison apple pinata, naturally, to fit the theme of her Snow White Adventure party. I knew this would be a long shot for us but as Sec's party was at the end of Mid-Winter Break, where we holed up in New Jersey doing nothing for nearly a week, I figured we'd have plenty of down-time to work on it. Plus, it wasn't a pirate or a castle or a double helix or anything - how hard cold it be to make an apple out of paper mache?
I figured it would be a fun, multi-sensory activity for the children and I to do together. The kind of activity I imagine myself doing with the kids in my daydreams where I am Mother Superior. As I set up the materials, and the children waited eagerly, with their sleeves rolled, I found myself wondering why I didn't undertake this kind of activity more often.
In the first minute of two of the activity, as Primo dipped his hands in the flour/ water mixture and a feeling of Earth Mother-ness suffused the scene, I resolved to be more adventurous about crafts
And then four minutes later, I took it all back. After laying on about three strips of newspaper, the kids decided it was a total borefest and I found myself alone, looking at a good hour or two worth of work. The worst part was, the kids had made such an infernal mess and fought so bitterly in those five minutes, that I actually felt RELIEVED that they ran off.
It didn't turn out half bad though:
I know it doesn't look like a poison apple, but it does, you must admit, look strikingly like a poison pear, could pears ever be blood-red. In any event, you get the idea. And it was operational and managed to hold the weight of Whoppers, Lemon Drops, Sour Straws and the other junk I found at the Dollar Tree to fill it with.
You could say, mission accomplished. Or you could say, that's a great idea I'll never do again.
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