Another snowy morning in the Valley means another day at the craft table for us. The cold and our daughter have no issues. As for me, I prefer a cozy blanket and a cup of tea (actually, back to coffee) right now – and she’s currently very accommodating.

When we got back from Victoria, she immediately headed for the craft table, which honestly really surprised me. We do a lot of painting, gluing and making of things. But, rarely is there an actual demand directed at me to do a specific craft.

On Saturday, though, the tiny person wanted to make robots. No fairies. No valentines. Just very cool robots.

This is soooooo not my territory. So, we called in the special robot making team (daddy) and got started.

I get TONS of requests from moms and dads with households full of boys looking for crafts that are geared more toward the male-type crowd – and it’s a well-known fact among that crowd that Ken is a 5-year-old in a, well, older guy’s body. So, M’s robot request gives me a great chance to let you all know that – starting in February – Ken will be contributing to our CRAFTS section with a column “Crafts For Boys.”

Imagine easy-to-make Star Wars gear, tutorials on all kinds of aliens, cars, monster creations and – of course – robots.

Should be fun.

Anyway, here’s what you need for the robots:

- Old colourful file folders or thick paper (construction paper is too floppy for this project)

- Brads to attach parts
– A hole punch
– Scissors
– Optional beads, stickers, crayons, paints or other cool things to decorate with
– White glue

Directions:

1. Cut up parts for your robot. Ken got fancy. But, basic shapes like triangles, circles, squares, rectangles, etc., are a great way to work on shapes with younger kiddos and an easy way to get all the different parts you need for a cool robot.

2. Arrange your robot into the size and shape you want. It was fun to cut out spare parts like hair as we went along.

3. Use the hole punch to make holes in each end of each part and attach the parts with the brads.

4. Let your kiddos decorate their robots like crazy! TIP: If using beads, put an extra glop of glue over the beads after the kids are done and let it dry overnight to give the beads some extra support.

We obviously made a girl robot. But, here’s the cool boy version Ken made, with an easy-to-do moving jaw:

Small Success: Leaving the house.
Yesterday we made it to the library AND the grocery store. It was a bit awkward. But, just the simple act of getting dressed and going through a fairly normal daily routine made a real difference.