After dinner, we cleared off the table, covered it all using a roll of craft paper and some masking tape, and gathered every crayon in the house for a few hours of family drawing time. Yes, the dishes are still in the sink. No, I really don’t care about them.
What I care about is watching this little one scribble with such intensity.
We started out sitting around the table, then took turns at each other’s spots to add more details. We kept going around, stretching over and across the table, a doodle here, a scribble there…. until the entire table was covered.
A coloring frenzy!!
There were quiet, calm moments….
…and moments with lots of silly giggling!
Mark has just about perfected drawing cute little girls.
All sprawled out…
Oh! Those pesky penguins have been up to no good!
Crayon isn’t exactly my forté, but it is a lot of fun!
Dear Valerie,
The penguin with the blow torch should be wearing safety goggles.
Love,
Mark
That is so cute! How fun!
I have an award for you:
http://ourniftynotebook.blogspot.com/2010/01/awards.html
Totally fun – I love how the whole family was at it at the same time. Creativity galore, and I hope you took a snapshot of a completed masterpiece.
This is awesome! Talk about quality time!
Yeah! Personally I think being grown up is over-rated. I don't want to do it myself!
this is such a fun thing to do in the winter time when routines get so monotonous! i think we will have to do this again some time! i like your idea of switching seats and adding details to the pictures!
That looks like a lot of fun. Love the penguins and the cute little girls. I know what we are doing this weekend.
Looks like great fun!
I LOVE IT!
looks like a great way to spend some time together!
That looks like so much fun! I may borrow that idea today since it's -20 degrees and we're all stuck in the house.
Not growing up is the best!
OK, STOP coming up with such fun things to do… I can't get to them all!
I believe the next night I serve Italian, we will need to cover our table with craft paper (like they do at "The Macaroni Grill") and have a blast waiting for the baked spaghetti to get done!
Every summer we have a Portuguese festival out here. They always cover the tables with craft paper so protect them. Every year we take a box of crayons and go to town! It is one of our favorite things to do while we wait for the fabulous food they serve!
We haven't done this in ages and we totally have to. Wouldn't have thought of switches spots to add more details. Will have to give that ago. I love how much fun you are all clearly having.
Just adorable!
I've been lurking a long time and love this idea (and many others). Where would I find a roll of this paper? Can you tell I'm a first time mom? My daughter is 18 mos and has a hard time keeping her drawings on the paper. This would help immensely.
@ Mark — You are so right. We're setting such a bad example for all those other penguins out there.
@ Jenny — Thank you so much for the award!! How exciting!!
@ Stephanie Griffith — 20 degrees?? Yikes! This is perfect for days like that. Have fun!
@ Wonder Mom — You crack me up! I think doing this before dinner is a great idea!
@ Amy Caroline — So jealous of the Portuguese festival. It sounds amazing! It would be so much fun to recreate some of that at home too!
@ Lisa — Welcome! Clara is also 18 months, so I can relate to not being able to keep the art supplies on the paper/canvas thing. I think I got the roll at Target with their shipping supplies (???), but I'm not 100% certain because it was several years ago, and we have gotten sooooooo much use out of it. I also found some here with free shipping. Lots of craft stores carry it and so do office supplies stores. Have fun!
YEA! What a wonderful idea…going to do this soon at dinner time! 🙂
P.S. By the way, I gave you an AWARD!!! Oh yeah, check it out on my blogsite…
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…"
Yay, I just bought a roll of paper the other day and we are totally using it to do this. Looks like a lot of fun!
She finna be a Picassil when she grow up.
Sounds to me like the perfect family night!
You are just so much fun! 🙂 That looks awesome. We often had our table covered in paper when my friend Nathan worked at an office store. He got these HUGE yellow sheets of paper for free… time to dust off some of the huge tubes of yellow paper. 😉
Love Val
What a great idea, looks like you had a ball. When I had company this summer my great niece had brought her coloring books and crayons. I have a picture of my 28 & 30 year olds sitting at the table coloring with her. Actually they sent books & crayons as a Christmas gift to my adult kids!
This is sooo great!!!!!!! Definetely will be doing this sometime soon!
Can I be a kid in your house? You come up with the best ideas! Thank you so much for your willingness to share them with us.
Chelsea
Thank you for spending time with your children! Less stress if you act like a kid more often!
What fun! There's a cute scene in the book Ramona and Her Father where they get a roll of shelf paper and roll it out on the floor and decide to draw everything in the state of Oregon. And I remember taking a roll of paper once and drawing a future sci-fi cityscape with flying cars.
That looks like so much fun. I remember doing that when I was little and actually laying across the table.
You are creating such wonderful, fun memories for your daughters. I love this idea.
I love that it brought the whole family to the table. Very cute idea!
What a great idea! I put it on our calendar for the first of every month. Thank you!