As a female Developmental Psychologist, I heard and read a lot about the specific socio-emotional and academic needs of girls, how we were being marginalized out of math and the hard sciences, and how our self-esteem was being diminished by a global patriarchy.  Only in the past seven or eight years does it feel like [...]

So far I’ve learned a lot from experimenting with boycraft.  The following rules always seem to apply:

Anything with puddles of glue, mixing seemingly innocuous ingredients into strange concoctions, or pounding on things with a hammer are definite winners.  
The time spent really focusing on the boy without the distraction of his sisters, the laundry, cleaning out [...]

Jasper is always happy to help out in the garage, but he’s not quite as handy as he’d like to think.  Enter the hardware collage!  This really fulfilled his love of anything garage-related, and he was happy to spend a lot of time carefully picking out what he wanted to include in his collage.  We [...]

So I’ve been trying various things with Jasper since school started for his sister and some have worked great (smashing playdough, for one) while others, well, not so much (anything drawing-related). With this one I’ve really hit it. I have one word.
Rockets.
Seriously, it seems like boys are generally very transportation-oriented, and rockets seem [...]

For regular playdough use I’m hooked on the Jello recipe, but when it comes to making things to keep I like a dough that’s really smooth and more clay-like. My recipe for cornstarch clay makes a very smooth, slightly sticky white dough that takes color really well. Most recently we used it for [...]

This morning, in honor of the start of Boycraft month, Jasper and I mixed up a batch of our favorite playdough. I know, I know, homemade isn’t ever quite as smooth and nice as the store-bought stuff and doesn’t have the distinctive scent but I swear that this recipe is really great. It’s [...]

I just didn’t get it.  Neither Josie (my oldest) nor I have ever been particularly girlie girls: we like bugs, get dirty, play trains…and I didn’t see that there would be much of a difference between girls like us and boys.  Heck, we’re not called tomboys for nothing, right?  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  [...]

With Josie off to school and Adelaide still thoroughly enjoying her morning nap, I’m excited to have the opportunity to spend some good boy-time with Jasper.  Sure, he’s okay with the tea parties and paper dolls, and surprisingly cooperative about princess dress-up, but this kid is so naturally a boy.  Cute crafty things that Josie [...]