May 17 // Cardboard Tea Party, Poetry Teatime, and Writing a Good Poem

with some really cute printables and tips to help!

Hello! Yesterday we talked about the value of appreciating art together. Choosing slow moments when you really have your kids’ attention is a great time to appreciate beautiful things! Today’s email includes a fun activity and an idea for a regular tradition, as well as a step-by-step poetry idea you can try as a family. Let’s do it!

Cardboard Tea Party

We get the Sago Mini subscription box for our younger three kids, and their tea party box was a big hit. Since all the toys are made of printed cardboard, it seemed like something parents and kids could make together on their own without spending $23. Sure can! Here are some printables we made for you so you can have a sweet little cardboard tea party at home! (They’re .png’s, so you can just tap on each image and download it.)

Here’s a set for your kids to decorate and cut out on their own if they like.

Here’s a set that we recommend gluing onto cardboard and cutting out. It’s extra fun if you cut a slit in the bottom of each piece, then make a little stand with a rectangle of cardboard that slides right into the slit (like when we made the winter play scene in the Jan 11th newsletter.)

And here are some food illustrations that work quite well glued onto thinner cardboard (like a cereal box) and cut out.

To make a tiered stand for the food, simply make plate-sized circles out of cardboard, and hot-glue half a toilet paper roll between the plates. (Your child can also decorate the plates.)

Activities like this are kind of like process art; half the fun is in the making!

Poetry Teatime

If you’d like to have a more serious, consistent time of classy snackery, invest in an actual small tea set. (It’s not too hard to find a good set—or compile your own eclectic set—from a thrift store.) I think the goal of poetry teatime is to communicate to your kids that 1) they are worth your time, 2) they’re deserving of dignity, and 3) your family values enjoying beautiful things together.

Here’s one of the most important things to remember about poetry teatime: don’t idealize it. “Doable” for your family in your season is right on target. If you use a kettle and strainer for seasonal loose-leaf teas and homemade baked treats, um, that’s awesome and your kids will love it. (Thursday’s meal inspiration email is going to be tea-party themed.)

But if you’re just microwaving Celestial Seasonings tea bags and peeling open string cheese for each kid, that’s super memorable and sweet too.

The whole point of this is setting time aside and showing your kids that you think they’re beautiful and worthy. You don’t even have to read poetry. (If you do want to read poetry, there’s a great list of books here.) But maybe you just need to talk. You can ask the kids some of the questions we send out each month, such as these ⬇️

If you do a regular teatime with your kids, or if you have tips on what makes your teatime special and/or doable, please share in the comments! Our dear reader Tyler C. is exemplary with her family teatimes and it’s clearly something that her kids cherish.

Write a Poem in Under 10 Minutes

Speaking of poetry, if you’d like to try a stab at making your own, this tutorial is pretty cool, and you could collaborate as a family. I wrote Simon’s steps below.

Select your favorite word: what word do you like the sound of? Say it out loud.
Write it at the top of your page.
Imagine your word as a character.
What do you think your character looks like?
What do your character’s eyes look like?
What does your character’s breath smell like? (What do they eat or drink?)
How does your character move? (And what is it like?)
What does their touch feel like?
What is your character carrying?
What does their voice sound like?
What might your character say?
Pick out your favorite pieces and arrange them in an order that sounds good.

I’d love to hear what you come up with!

Hopefully you found an idea that can stick with you in today’s email! I’d love to hear about what works in your family!

Warmly,

Hope from Family Scripts