Kiddie Crafts - Jack and the Beanstalk

We continued with our fairy tale theme by next introducing Jack and the Beanstalk.  Once again we used several book versions, the Fairie Tale Theatre movie, and crafts.  Zaxxon now likes to stomp around saying Fee Fi Fo Fum!

On day one, we made a beanstalk in our hallway

The next day we added to--and finished--the mural.  We started by tracing Zaxxon on a big piece of paper to make a giant.

Coloring the giant.  He also wanted to make it anatomically correct.  I informed him that he couldn't see his own parts under his clothes, and the giant was wearing clothes too.  Ah, kids.

Next we laced the golden harp.  He even laced them in the right order (with a bit of prompting.)

After that we cut out the magic beans.  (Yes, we should've done them before the beanstalk.  Oh well.)

You can see the two he cut out aren't as close to the lines, but look how good of a job he did!

We then made a bag of gold.  I was amazed at how many mural elements he wanted to make.  This one I put together on the fly, since I'd had no plans to make a money bag.

We also made a hen by tracing his hand, and cut out golden eggs for it, but I didn't get any pictures of that.  Then we made Jack, so he could be climbing the beanstalk.  Zaxxon drew this one all by himself.  (Apparently Jack is a robot.)

Then we made the giant's castle.  I love how he's looking at the picture to see what his drawing is missing.

Lastly, Zaxxon traced the name "Jack."

And then we put everything on the wall.  Whew!  What a day!  I was truly amazed at how much he wanted to do in one day (I'd figured the mural would have been a several-day project.)

I formally introduced the letter "J" after Jack and the Beanstalk.  This time I turned all the pictures upside down after they were cut out and challenged him to find them.

We only did one other "J" craft, a jellyfish.  First we put paint and star confetti in a clear sandwich bag, sealed it up, and smushed it together.

Then we added streamers to the bottom for tentacles.

Ta da!  Jellyfish.  He wanted to play with it, but after he started getting rough I called an end to that.  The paint probably won't dry inside the sealed bag, and I DON'T want paint all over the house.

We made baked applesauce for the heck of it, because we found a recipe in his Highlights High Five magazine.  This was the first time we used his new "safe" knife (my mother-in-law got it for him, it's very similar to a pumpkin carving knife.)

He's a good kitchen helper, although he usually wants to work three times as fast as I do.  And taste everything.  We had to wash his hands three times in order to get through this.

In typical Zaxxon fashion, he said he liked it after the first taste, but a few bites later said he didn't.  Oh well, more for me!  It was quite scrumptious.  And I saved his in case he has a change of heart later.