diy kids

This book just came in the mail last week and I wanted to share it.  Emma is particularly excited about it.  D.I.Y. Kids is from the same author, Ellen Lupton, who wrote Design It Yourself and there are many things to like about this new kid's version.  (I just realized the authors have a website and blog as well, thank you Abby!)  Emma is at a great age to begin taking more of the "design" control of things like her birthday parties and the decor in her room (as opposed to the very long punch list of ideas that she asks us to do for these things), and I love that this book shows how a kid's own artwork can be used to replace those over-commercialized icons we see covering every single kid thing at retail (I found shopping for new backpacks last week a painful experience for this very reason- stop it with the Transformers already!).  Peter and I have a deal with the kids that they can have no character icons on their clothing or accessories.  In exchange, we'll make sure that they have fun, cool "iconic" things that they like via other ways (our own artwork, Peter's artwork, freezer paper stencil art, handmade stuffies, etc.).  I think the kids came around to this idea pretty easily, and books like this can help show them even more how their own ideas, drawings, and "packaging" can look fun and cool because its theirs alone and completely original.

    
(making art with colored tape, office dots, punched hole reinforcements, etc...all things kid can't keep can't keep their hands off of, right?)

(turning artwork into bookplates for favorite books)

None of these ideas are entirely new, but packaged together in this kid-friendly way completely engaged Emma's interest and imagination, so it wins huge points from me.  (And admittedly, at the time, she was also stuck sitting and waiting for Ian to finish his class...but I really don't think an uninteresting book would have held her attention.) 

(how to make a simple skirt and vest for your stuffy.  I think this would be a fantastic girl scout project.)

(Emma was very interested in this cardboard box city, probably because she and Ian have an almost magnetic draw toward colored post-it notes-again, office supplies make my kids nutty- they really can't avoid touching them.)

The book is divided into four sections, "graphics", "toys", "home", and "fashion".  Each section has a short interview with a real life "grown-up" doing something related to the chapter in their chosen profession (packaging design, clothing designer, etc).  Every page has engaging, lovely photos of kids and kid art.   Put it on your wishlist for Fall and Winter, to fill up those cold, dreary days and spark some ideas for Christmas gifts.

In the back section, the authors discuss how "d.i.y. families are increasingly treating their living spaces as studios rather than nests...lively centers of sociability, communication, and work".  This is a very accurate description of what we have in our house right now.  There are many new beginnings under our little roof, many exciting changes.  Our home is most definitely a creative lab of all sorts right now.But more to come on that.

Thanks so much for checking out the shop goods last Friday.  All orders that haven't shipped already are heading to the post office today.  In the meantime, I will either be sewing like a banshee after the kids start school next Wednesday...or crying in my coffee that my youngest has legitimately started his academic career.  Who knows at this point?

And tomorrow I will finally draw those 5 names.

Hope you are having a lovely long weekend.