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Dot Markers and Seeing

Children use dot markers to explore shapes and lines.

 

dot markersdot markersdot markers

 


Like most kids, my kids enjoy playing with bingo-style dot markers. They enjoy completing dot marker worksheets (we’ve found some fun ones here and here), as well as creating open-ended art with them. Which is where the seeing comes in.

One of the reasons I started blogging was because I wanted to focus my mind on the positives of raising young children. It is so easy to be bogged down by sleep deprivation, laundry, tears, and diaper changes. Blogging has done a lot for me, in terms of helping me see more of the things I love about being a mom – hence the name of this blog!

And sometimes I really need the second look I get, writing a post. Watching the kids with this project, here is what I saw:

Emma writing her name:

name written with dot markers

Lily making abstract art – every once in a while she does act like the two-year-old she is, not the five-year-old she thinks she is

abstract art with dot markers

And Johnny drawing a cute little circle guy and a square guy:

creative art with dot markers

Then, I loaded the photos for this post and realized they were people letters! Spelling his name! Pretty neat for the three-year-old he was way back in October when I took these pictures!

I’m so glad I took the time to sit down and see.

And now I’m off to play with my kids. Because dishes – and blogging (these pictures sat on my desktop since last October, and the worksheet pictures are from June!) – will wait, but life will not.

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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

19 thoughts on “Dot Markers and Seeing”

  1. I love the people letters, and your comment about “seeing.” Have you read any of Annie Dillard’s essays on that topic? They’re more in the context of seeing nature, but still applicable, I think.

  2. Agree! A life with three (or any number, really) is so rich and full that I often feel I need two or three lifetimes to fully take it all in. I miss so much everyday, and not only because of the dishes or cooking or vacuuming – life is just so full even without them. We do what we can, and capture what we can, and savor what we can. This is a season of blessing, exhaustion or no, is what I tell myself, especially when it’s the end of the day and there are still Lego and Playmobil and prickly little pink plastic dress-up jewelry on the floor to pick up. Hurrah for you recording all the positives here, MaryAnne! Someday your kids will read this blog and say, “Wow, you saved our artwork, Mom!” and smile to read your words about why they were so precious to you.

  3. I won some dot markers and then the first time we opened them one of the boys (this was over 3 years ago) pooped the sponge part off and spilled the entire bottle of paint all over my floor. Needless to say they got put away for a little bit :)

    Enjoy life today!

  4. Dot markers are my number one favorite item for my younger ones while the big kids are doing school! They don’t spill…and if they get on the table, they wipe off! The kids love them too! They love to match the lids to the right marker!

    BTW…you radiate joy with children…no one would ever guess that you have ever been tired! :)

    1. I definitely get tired! But honestly, I’m living my lifelong dream right now, so the sleep deprivation is worth it!!!

  5. The people letters are so cute. We love dot markers. The thing I love about blogging is that sometimes I feel like I haven’t done anything with my kids….then I look at pictures I have taken and posts I have written and I know that I have tried to engage them, have fun with them, and show them I love them.

    1. I love that too – sometimes as a mom it’s easy to feel like everything you do gets undone/forgotten. This is a way to remember the good times =)

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