Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Message Can

Posted by Micah at 1:44 PM
Elora is bottle fed now which means I have tons and tons of formula cans (powdered stuff) going through the house. I started saving a few thinking I would either donate them to a youth group for crafts or make something with one of my monthly gatherings. I intended on saving... oh... six or so. I estimate I have about two dozen. With the move looming on the horizon it was time to DO something with them!


There are several ideas I have an I intend to do a few more soon (tm), but the one I'm showing you today is the Message Can for kids. I tell my children every day, several times a day, "I love you" and "I'm proud of you". But as Koen learns to read I wanted to make a place I could put little notes for him, messages like how it made me smile when he did X, or how sweet it was that he did Y. The key is to drop the messages in there when he's not looking so it's always a surprise when there's a new note! (He also has a mailbox for when Grandma sends him letters or parcels).


Of course I'll do similar cans for the girls, but for now... I used Hooligan paper and some dollar store ribbon. The "goo" is a Martha Stewart edge punch. For the hole in the top I used a punch from Stampin' Up and made a stencil, then cut out the hole by hand.


Another use for these cans is the Baby's Firsts can. When Koen was born it was super easy to jot down in my pre-purchased book when he first crawled or when his first tooth came in. The details were then transferred to his baby book, which I had lots of time to make! With the arrival of Kerowyn things got a bit hectic. What I have recorded is stuck on a sticky note and shoved into her incomplete baby book (she's nearly 3 now). Elora... baby book? haha what?


So the Baby's First can works the same way as the child's Message Can. When your baby does something remarkable you jot down the date and time and a sentence to remind you what it was and drop it in the can. It can sit on a shelf and be all pretty and when you are ready to work on the baby book, all those "firsts" are in one safe place.


One more for the road... the Snaps can (thank you Legally Blonde). A family writes notes about positive things they've seen the rest of the family do during the day and after supper (or when ever) they sit down together and take turns drawing them out and reading them. The movie reference would then have everyone say, "Snaps for you!" and much finger snapping. It's a great "feel good" bond building exercise, but better for children who can read.


Thanks for checking in!

2 comments:

Tina Connolly said...

Very cool idea, looks great!

Cheryl said...

Wonderful project! I love that idea.


When my DD was younger, we had a "Question Jar". I promised to answer her questions, but sometimes I wouldn't be able to do it right away. So we would write the question down and put it in the jar. Then I would be able to look it up on the internet (for questions like "why is the sky blue") or it would give me time to think about my answer before replying (for questions like "Why do people die") Putting it in the jar made sure we wouldn't forget to get answers for her. Now that she is older, we don't have the jar any more but I think it formed a basis for both of to know that I would help her find an answer to her questions.

I know, I probably shared too much info but it helped us a lot so I thought I would share.

I really love your idea. Very sweet and I'm sure it is something your kids will remember when they are older.

 

Stamp Off, Eh! Copyright © 2011 Design by Ipietoon Blogger Template | web hosting