Alden ever since he was old enough to move things around has loved piles of stuff. When he was little he would make a big pile of toys, books, blankets, etc and then sit in the middle and play for quite some time. (Granted afterwards we were left with a big mess that we would clean up together.)
Now Alden loves to find things from the recycle bin, things on the ground at the park, or on walks that he thinks are neat. I created two little shelves downstairs that were his cutting things as we call them. These two shelves often explode and start taking over the whole living room. Sometimes I will let him keep his messes for awhile because he sits in them and makes things that to him are amazing items. Last week we got rid of a lot of it and confined it to two boxes...(it really was starting to take over a good chunk of the living room.) these boxes I had him take up to his room. The only problem was at the same time we got a new shelf that came in a big box and other cardboard items which he very gladly added to his cutting supplies. Above his his room right now. A very large pile and you can't even see all the lovely creations he has under the box he is sitting on! :)
Below are a few pictures of some of the things he has made, which he insist he wants to sale and will often try to get Michael, Calvin, or I to buy these or other things from him that he has made.
Above is a toilet paper roll with pins in it, which is the comb he made. He will often have us brush his hair with his comb, but he always tells us to be careful so that no pins come out so that he won't get poked. The other day when I brushed his hair he was all excited because no pins came out, he turned to me and said, "I think they are getting stronger Mom and that is why they are not falling out!"
Above he is holding another toilet paper roll that has a screw and some other metal thing on it, when you shake it, it makes the sound of a tambourine. But don't call it a tambourine because he insist it is a different instrument, which I guess it is.
Above is a couch he made out of newspaper with Grandma when she was here. You probably can't see them but on the couch are pillows that are newspapers that are stuffed with shredded newspaper. He also has made a bed, blanket, and a number of pillows with newspaper. Last week we went to Ikea, he absolutely loved that store, and asks frequently to go back. He was checking everything out, he wanted to see the different pillow designs and how much they costs and all of the furniture, When he came home he wanted to use white paper so he could make designs on his pillows and then stuff them with the newspaper, so he bought some white paper and has been making his pillows with that paper. (Which he now trys to sale to me...buying the white paper was an investment which he thinks will pay itself off quite well after seeing how much they sale pillows for at Ikea.)
This is a game he made which finally had it's day and was sent to recycling. This was inspired by a trip to Peter Piper Pizza, which is a pizza place with arcades. The boys favorite game was one where you try to throw the ball into some baskets. When we came home Alden said how he wanted to make some games like they had there, so we made this together. He then created a spot on it where you put in your money or token and then a spot for tickets to come out if you make the baskets. At school if you do something good you will get a ticket, with these tickets you put them in a bucket where your name can be drawn to get a prize. After we made this Alden would bring home his tickets from school so that he could use them on his game. I explained how he wouldn't be drawn for a prize but he said, "It's okay mom, I've already put in tickets for the drawing." I later showed him how we could make some tickets which he did a lot of. These pictures are of a day when he insisted he wanted to have people play his game and sat outside waiting for people to come play his game.
It is fun seeing what creations Alden is going to think up and to see how creative he can be...the only thing is it does create quite the mess, but sometimes I think it might just be worth it!
