Conquering Crafts (with limited skills): Z1 is Unpredictable

I recently had a day where I was going to have to do some work but also occupy Z1. I've done it before with no advance warning and it was fine with the simple provision of some paper, a few pens and a treasured permanent marker ("Treasured" because I tend to be wary, for obvious reasons, of letting her use it in normal circumstances). I had the radio on, I gave occasional praise and advice on her drawings and we passed a pleasant few hours.

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Folded, cut and ready to colour

This time, however, I knew in advance and was proud of my preparation. I was looking forward to some pleasant hours. I came across these easy to make paper houses and got quite excited, to be honest. I thought Z1 would love them and was slightly concerned that I was going to end up with a metropolis of paper houses that I would not be allowed to throw out. I practised in advance and had them ready for her (see left) when the time came for me to work.

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The finished products

She seemed enthusiastic and we were both working away for...oooh...nearly 2 minutes, I think when she brought the blue house (which was the unfolded one in the above picture, if you're wondering) to me. It's hard to see there but she did draw smoke coming out of the chimney, which was a nice touch, but then she just scribbled. No flowers under the windows, tiles on the roof or suchlike. She did ask to do the second but I think she was just pleasing me and I found myself disappointed that I wasn't going to acquire a hamlet of paper houses, let alone the aforementioned metropolis.

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Bat number 1: complete

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Alternative craft

I showed her the link up there to inspire her but she just asked me to draw her a bat, so I did. She coloured it in, cut it out, taped it to the message board and asked for more. (She went on to become distraught at her lack of bat-drawing skills but she was mostly just hungry for lunch)

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Z1's photo of the paper houses

So the hours passed, more bat-filled and less house-filled than I had anticipated and then, out of the blue, she took the houses again, lined them up, and asked if she could take a photo, so here it is.