Audra: The magical things about Christmas trees is that no matter how many ornaments you have, there is always seems to be room for just one more on there right? Well today in better parenting, Tony has some ideas about handmade ornaments that you can actually make with your toddler.
Tony: Well when you make them by hand, ornaments become might more than just something to hang on the tree. They become keepsakes and over the years begin to tell the story of your family. So today, we’re going to put some keepsakes together.
That’s the thing about ornaments, you can never have too many. So there is some glitter glue you can use. So you can put clay on the balls like this. And when it comes to the stuff to make them by hand, you can never have enough. Unlimited supplies, with white clay you can make a snowman or you can make a crazy guy with a beard.
The trick to making ornaments with toddlers is to relax and let the process unfold. Basically, your job is to get out of their way.
He’s just going crazy, that’s what’s great about this. I mean they just throw a bunch of stuff at here and you know no one seems to care about spilling on the carpet or on the clothes or anything. It's really great.
Making your ornaments in an art suit really makes it simple. We’re at Chap today. Besides having—you can possibly need to make your ornament all the proceeds support art programs in local hospitals.
Male: Cloth is the healing power of art that is really our mission.
Tony: here at the Chap Art Factory tapping into that power means following a few simple rules.
Male: Once they stepped on the colored paper, they’re the boss. You really can't make any mistakes. You're not allowed to clean up. And if your mom tries to art direct you, she gets a timeout.
Tony: That’s right, parents get the timeout and it's brutal.
Male: If you're really bad, you have to go across the street and get a latte and sit on the couch by yourself and face the park and no children can talk to you for half and hour.
Tony: But whether you're naughty or nice—as usual, I have to do most of the work in this relationship. When you make ornaments with toddlers, expect to put in a little overtime.
Mike: We’re working on one of a series of ornaments that we have for this year. All the planets in the solar system and this is Pluto.
Tony: Mike and his son Fritz—
Mike: I feel like this is one of my best works right here.
Tony: Are working on an ornament for their family’s first Christmas tree.
Mike: We will get one, about this big I think.
Tony: With one ornament from a Pluto.
Mike: Just this one, yeah. This is fun for us to build an ornament like this because it does sort of start a tradition. You know we can look at is as a keepsake.
Tony: A tradition that may last for years built one day at a time.
Male: Everyday they wake up and go “what fun thing am I going to do today?” and “how can I get messy up and I learn?”, “how can I interact?”
Male: Today, it was making an ornament.
Male: Yeah and when you have your parents along, you're doing it with them and that's even better because that’s all they want.
Tony: I'm Tony Martinez, thanks for watching.
Audra: All right, as Tony mentioned he was visiting the children’s healing art project studio and if you like to learn more information about their program supporting art for kids who are hospitalized just log on to BetterTV.com and follow the link.
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