I often find the age difference of 8 years between my two children very useful. Siem is 11, is in the sixth form (group 8) of the Waldorf school and is a bridge student in the making. The first teenage pranks become visible and he is increasingly busy with his place in the world and exploring where it reaches.

Kaatje is 3, goes to an anthroposophical nursery 2 days a week and can't wait until she can finally go to school. She will also go to free school soon. 

Both children call on me differently, need something different from me, have a different daily rhythm, and that means that one day there is a lot of room for both of them for my attention, and there is room in which they can be together.

And being together is sometimes quite a challenge. Siem likes to play with his little sister, then adjusts to her level. As a mother, I enjoy that endlessly of course. But I think it's best when we do something where they're both busy at their own level, and we're still together.

Fortunately, they are both very fond of drawing, painting and crafts. And one of the many beautiful things that I have taken over from free school is working with good materials. good paper (no printer paper!), nice crayons, good pencils and a good surface to work on.

Because there is little more frustrating than working with bad material. Good and beautiful material stimulates so much more! Not infrequently the whole table is full of paper, paint, a box full of crafts with which all kinds of things are created, crayons, pencils, etc. And they both have hours of fun with this, each at their own level.

Recently they both have their own drawing board from Grennn† What a party that is! I no longer have to stick their drawing board to the table with tape, because on this board your paper does not shift when you are drawing or painting. And you can safely mess around a bit, because you can wipe everything off with a damp cloth.

Kaatje is very proud that her name is on it. (Although according to her it says “Lieve Kaatje”, so let's just leave it like that…) She proudly shows her artwork and the shelf to everyone who comes to our home.

And Siem is very happy with such a solid surface that you can also take with you somewhere. Enjoy drawing in the garden or in the dunes or in the zoo. Or secretly draw in bed, I regularly catch him doing that.

So whether you're three years old or eleven, such a beautiful one personalized drawing board is indispensable for stimulating drawing and painting fun!

I want to thank Judith (@JvanderWildt) for writing this blog. For more inspiration I would take a look at her instagram page - Melanie