Seriously Underpaid

If you haven’t already figured it out, this is not one of my normal posts.  However, I found it SO much fun that I just had to post for others to enjoy.

I first saw the idea on a PBS show and just knew my little guys would get a real kick (or should I say ‘stick’) out of it.  And it is so easy to put together with ordinary materials you probably have in your garage or under any household sink.

It’s called a STICKY MAT!  Kids love to be sticky, so why not let them play in it!

Start with the only 2 materials you’ll need:

Contact Paper

Masking Tape

Find a large area, maybe the kitchen or dining room, and unroll the contact paper STICKY SIDE UP.  Secure the top with a strip of masking tape.  Continue to unroll until you have a desired length of mat and cut. I used about 3 feet so the kids could lay down on it “comfortably”.

Secure all four sides with masking tape.  As it gets used and as the kids play, the sides will come up some so you may want to use the wider width masking tape or double up on the thinner width.

Now, let the kids go to town!  They can walk their hands down it.  Walk on all fours.  Or try to walk normal. They can roll on it, lay on it, see how their clothes/hands/hair stick differently to it. After all the walking and sticking, I got out some different materials to let them experiment what would stick and what wouldn’t. ie: felt squares, stickers, fuzzy balls, foam shapes, pencil shavings, etc.

If you’re short on space or only have the masking tape on hand, you can make a smaller, table-top mat.  Using just masking tape, secure one side with a small piece of tape and stretch it across to desired length (sticky side up). Continue with the next piece directly under it, overlapping with the top piece so it will stick together.  When you’ve gotten the mat where you want it, secure all four sides with masking tape.  This one is great for younger preschoolers or infants to play with but, as you can see, four year olds will tear it up.

This is such a fun way to let the kids investigate textures, test hypotheses, and just…play!  Let me know what you think or if you’ve done this before, especially if you’ve done it differently.

My kids will be doing this one again!

I’m pretty sure every parent can attest to the fact that their child’s laughter is the sweetest sound that God ever created.  There is so much within that little inhale-exhale moment.  It represents contentment, comfort, satisfaction.

Love.

It heals. (it is the best medicine)  It enriches. (a day without laughter is a day wasted) It is essential. (there is a time to laugh)

Our kids have it down pretty well, but what about the adults in the house. When was the last time you laughed?

Not the school-girl giggle.

Not the knock-knock-joke cackle.

I’m talking the fall-on-the-floor, hold-the-gut, wet-the-pants kind of laugh.  When was the last time you experienced this kind of laughter?

Our kids do it every day.  Maybe we should take a cue from them.

Jesus did say, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 18:3)

So let’s do it.  Let’s laugh today. Laugh with your kids today.  Laugh at yourself today. Just…

Laugh.

“If you are too busy to laugh, you are too busy.”~Proverb

“Laughter is an instant vacation.”~Milton Berle

“I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose.”~Woody Allen

I dare say that there is not a thing in this world that irritates me more than a nice piping hot cup of coffee turned cold. Yet, this seems to happen to me every morning.

My intentions are good. I get up. (that’s step 1 and quite a feat in and of itself) I go downstairs. I get a cup from the cabinet. I pour in the coffee. I settle in to a chair with my journal, a devotional, a Bible and a pen. And apparently, the clicking of the pen is code for “Alrighty! Everyone in the house come alive and vie for mommy’s attention!”
A wiggle of a doorknob. A faint creek of a worn-out stair. A pitter patter of little feet. (well, not so little anymore but that sentence made me feel like they were) And the words I were hoping could wait at least another 30 minutes come spilling forth out of their mouths:
“Mommy! I want breakfast!”

The coffee will have to wait. And it will get cold.

Hour later. Kids have eaten. Disney is blaring out of the living room. I slip away to heat up the coffee, only to be cut short by a 2 ft toddler with play dough in her hands and an artist twinkle in her eye.

The coffee will have to wait. And it will get cold.

Hide-n-seek. Trampoline. Bike ride. Wagon ride. Park. Swings.
Nap time brings promise of a ‘warming up of the coffee’. Nope.
Laundry. Dishes. Picking up. Cleaning.

The coffee will have to wait. And it will get cold.

But what has that cold cup of coffee come to mean to me? It means I played transformers with my son. It means I rocked the same baby doll to sleep 10 times. It means we’ve decorated the fridge with art that would make Picasso cry. It means I spent the day with my kids.
And my coffee? Well, I guess it’ll just have to stay cold.

“I know the best thing we can do is to always enjoy life” (Ecclesiastes 3:12 CEV)