Thankful for Crayons

I survived yet another night of the kids at their craziest. Just one more session this semester, but that has me worried because they're supposed to sing in church the Sunday after that, and based on what happened last night, it may end up being one little girl and me singing a duet (which could actually be kind of cute if had been planned that way). The rest really couldn't be bothered with singing or learning the words.

I resorted to my "fall back and punt" tactic of passing out paper and crayons, since that actually seems to engage Problem Child, and then I played the song we're supposed to sing on a loop to maybe seep into their brains as I told them to draw something they're thankful for. Most of the little girls drew pictures of their families, with little hearts over their heads. Problem Child drew a picture of his family in their flying car (he may drive me nuts, but this kid has the potential to be really cool). One girl drew something that I thought she said was for her grandma, but it turned out to be a picture of her grandma. I'm sure Grandma will be touched,  even if she's not exactly flattered. My Queen Bee in the making drew a very lovely picture of herself. One boy colored the entire sheet of paper blue and said he'd drawn a picture of God. Some of the kids started doing handprint turkeys, where you draw around your hand and then make that into a turkey. One kid must not have been familiar with the concept because he followed the other kids in tracing his hand, but then instead of making a turkey he ended up doing a rather lifelike drawing of his hand, complete with fingernails and knuckles. I was impressed. One little boy turned his handprint turkey into a pretty realistic-looking turkey, as part of a detailed, farm-like landscape that covered the whole page. That one also impressed me.

It may not be the most detailed art/craft project ever, but I find it highly amusing to pass out paper and crayons and see what the kids come up with based on a simple prompt. It definitely reveals a lot about the kids. I need to think of a good Christmas-related topic for next time.

I think there may be baking this afternoon. I had planned to maybe do some shopping and possibly even get a haircut, but the fact that I changed into sweats after getting back from the grocery store this morning doesn't bode well for that.