Saturday, July 24, 2010

Bad Hare Day - A Hairstyling Craft for Scissor Happy Little Girls



With four daughters, it's inevitable we will have our share of unexpected haircuts. Cutting their own hair, does seem to be a universal right of passage for young girls. I cut my own hair once, too.

So, I probably should have clued in sooner, when my five year old announced she wanted to be a hairstylist in Paris when she grows up (something the Man of the House tells me I have "Pee Wee's Big Adventure", to thank for).

My teacher instincts kicked in, and I added French to our fall studies. But, I should have realized with a five year interested in cutting hair, I'd soon have a four year old with a hair cut. My mommy radar has been off, lately.

For instance, when I saw said four year old, wandering to her room with a handful of beads, I probably should have said more than, "Don't put those in your mouth." I should have remembered to say, "Don't put those in your mouth, or up your nose." (Sigh)

But, the bead blew out, without a trip to the emergency room, and a visit to a real hair stylist "fixed" the cut. Then, there wasn't much to do (after the obligatory crying, and lecturing), but laugh - laugh, and do a craft to channel some of those creative urges in a less destructive way.

First, we read Miriam Moss' Bad Hare Day, the story of a young hare up to creative mischief in her uncle's hair salon. I couldn't have asked for a better library find.



I had the girls, and their older sisters, draw some bald people for me.



Then, I gave them an assortment of yarn, curling ribbons, hair clips, markers, and glue, to style to their little hearts out.





I gave them extra long pieces of yarn, so there was plenty of room for cutting. They had a great time, snipping, and shaping, and when they were done...



...I put the scissors away.



It's great to be a homeschooler.

13 comments:

Kylie said...

You did ag reat job of truning that experience around into something positive.

I've been meaning to askyou if you have any posts that you can direct me to that cover, your philosphy, how you homeschool etc etc. Your 'almost unschoolers' seems to sit perfectly with me and I'd love to read more about what you all do and how you do it.

Unknown said...

Oh yes- I didn't cut my own hair, but at the age of 5 I cut the hair of a 2 year old my mother often babysat. His bangs were in his face- it bugged me- so, I cut it- all the way to the scalp line! OOOPS!

An Almost Unschooling Mom said...

Kylie - I did a guest post, a while back, at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns, on how we got going into unschooling - and some of the books that led us there.

http://learningwithmouse.blogspot.com/2010/06/view-on-unschooling.html

Joyful Learner said...

I remember cutting my own hair too. I love the fun activity and the way you turned things around. I think most girls would love to style their paper dolls' hair!

Debbie said...

I am just waiting for the day that Selena decides this would be fun. She loves to play with my hair all the time, pretend cut it and so forth. I have often wondered since I always cut her hair when she will figure that is just the way it works.

Leah Courtney said...

I love it! We've had the hair cutting (several times) and the beads in the nose (only once so far!). I wish I had known about this book when the hair cutting was at it's peak. Ahh well, I have some little girls that would still enjoy the book and a hair cutting project. :-)

Ticia said...

I so need to do this! It might solve some of my own hair-cutters problems.

Deborah said...

I Love this idea! How fun to get to cut the paper doll hair (instead of your own:)

Kylie said...

oh thanks off to read that now. :)

Christianne @ Little Page Turners said...

Awesome story. I should pull out this activity as a preventative measure. My girls' hair grows so slowly, it would be a disaster if they chopped it off themselves. :)

Christy Killoran said...

We have lucked out - no unexpected haircuts around here YET! I will definitely look for that book and copy your activity though because I know my kids will have fun with it.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

OMG - don't tell me that 4-year-olds still put stuff up their nose. I was hoping that we bypassed that stage already without any incidents. Urgh! I was threatening to cut my hair so many times that my mom acted "proactively", and I was sporting a short cut through most of my life. I kind of hope that Anna will have long hair, the only problem that she refuses to wear anything in her hair most of the time. I really love the craft that you came up with to let those creative urges out.

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

OOh my sister and I did that so many times. =) Our poor mom. I love this yarn hair idea though. What a great way to teach! Thanks so much for the great idea, I'll be linking.