Yesterday with the thunderstorming wet weather, we decided to get our craft on, with some perler beads and a pegboard. 

In the last couple of months I have been switching my OT brain back on, in a totally different direction, kids!! (who would have thought) This is both exciting and a bit intimidating,  since I haven’t worked with children since my community service.   As a result I have been spending hours reading, and researching, and the brain is definitely firing in all directions. So when I went into Crafters Inn yesterday and say these Ironing Bead packs my thinking was ‘yay a craft activity for the kids, ooh this is great for pre writing skills, yes it works on fine motor and planning and concentration and and….  So who better to try this out on, but my own kids (well actually that isn’t true, my own kids are the worst to try anything out on, IF I’m the one giving instruction).  

In this instance Grace fell in love with the activity and wanted to do it immediately.  I love the way she planned exactly how she wanted the horse to look and then worked away at completing it. 

Eli, although excited about it, I knew would lose interest about 10 minutes in, so before we started I told them that when it was finished they could iron the beads on. This totally won him over and he enjoyed making his plane.  I would say the highlights for Eli were definitely ironing the beads and then playing some imaginary game with his aeroplane when it was finished.  Of course Eli now thinks he is up to helping Susan with the ironing. Not quite sure I’m ready to let him lose on our clothes, but maybe in the not too distant future he can give ironing a try. 

What’s lovely about the packs is that you can make more than one, so I’m sure it won’t be long and Grace will be making a plane and Eli a horse. 

The finished products