Hi everyone! This summer I got the chance to babysit two girls while their parents worked from home. We would hang out for a view hours, playing games, going to the park, and making crafts. These two girls love arts and crafts, and the ten year old was so excited that I was an art student. On one day, I even taught her how to draw different parts of the face, and she caught on quickly. My last day with them was this past week, and I knew I wanted to do something really fun and creative as a last day craft. I spent over an hour in Michael’s trying to decide what to do. Michael’s has a ton of cool craft kits that I would sometimes bring, but I wanted something extra special, something that would give them the freedom to express themselves however they wanted to. So, I decided to get wooden letters of each of our initials and bring my tackle box filled with acrylic paint so we could each design our own letter.

When I got to their house and showed them, they were so excited. The six year old was mostly exciting with the amount of different colors I had, especially the metallic ones (kids just love silver and gold, right?). I set us up and we went to work. The six year old loves tie dye – she says it’s her favorite color! So it was no surprise to me that she was going to make hers tie dye. She picked out pinks, red and blues, and even found herself mixing new colors. By the end, she had a streak of paint on her nose, which I think is the mark of a true artist. The ten year old decided that she wanted to paint succulents because they fit her personality. I helped her figure out how to draw them, and she went on to make a bunch of little green and blue flowering succulent plants. She blocked out the tops of he letter with silver paint, and went in with a gold sharpie to draw stars and dots all over hers. I found inspiration in hers, and decided to paint green succulents and yellow flowers. I outlined them with silver and gold paint markers to make it pop. The girls are planning to put these letters on their door, and I’m going to bring mine to sit on my desk at school

I had a lot of fun making these. I think it was a great last activity for us! I loved getting to fuel their creativity this summer. Sometimes they would comment that they didn’t think they were very good, but I always encouraged them to think differently. I was in their spot once – a kid who loved to make anything and everything, and today I’m making a major and a future career out of my passion. I know that these girls are going places, and I hope they always have this love of art. If I was any help or inspiration to them, then I’m grateful I got the opportunity to be their babysitter this summer!