- Decorating a Child’s Room
with a Weather Theme
- by Joey Lewitin
(A science based theme for a
child’s room, if presented in the correct way, has the ability
to get them excited about learning. If you tell them about the
interesting aspects of the subject, explain to them some of the
cool effects you can create within the theme, and get them eager
to help you design the setting. Then you may be able to ignite
a spark of curiosity in them that will lead them to want to know
more. One scientific theme you may be able to get your child
interested in pursuing is the weather. )
Weather entails everything from
violent tornados ripping trees out of the ground, to a mild summer
day. It involves titanic forces, towers of air reaching into
the sky, chaos, and violence. All you have to do is look at the
way Hollywood has cashed in on weather based disaster movies
to understand that it can be a very interesting topic. Weather
can also be lovely, and this theme will allow you to create some
very cool effects in a room, from clouds, to rain, to lightning
and hail. For this reason, you may be able to entice a child
with one of the many aspects of this theme, and as you proceed,
inspire them to want to know more about this subject.
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Another great thing about a weather
based theme is that it can be seasonal. You can decide to make
the decorations simple, and change them as often you like. If
the winter is particularly cold, try decorating a warm sunny
day into the child’s room. Alternatively you can follow
the seasonal weather, matching the child’s room to the world
outside. The theme can be changed as often or as little as you
like. However, you should be careful to match the simplicity
of the theme to how often you want to change it. Changing a complicated
decorative scheme over and over is going to be tiring for both
you and the child, and may cause them to completely lose interest
in the activity.
Before proceeding, be certain
to talk with your child and explore the various possibilities
this theme may present. Try and excite them about the idea of
towering tornados, lightning, hail, and blizzards. Together,
come up with some ideas about the interesting, or beautiful weather
you could creat in the room. Let them lead the way, and try to
inspire their curiosity as much as you can.
Most of the weather effects you
will create will be based on decorating the ceiling and the walls.
This can be done using paper or cloth. Trace the image you would
like onto the material, and then cut it out with a scissor or
exact-o knife. This cut out can then be easily taped or thumb
tacked to the ceiling or walls. |
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For a more finished look, try
stenciling directly onto the walls. If you are creative, you
can design a scheme which will allow you to add effects to these
paintings that can change the feel of the room. For instance,
white billowy clouds can, at a later date, be given grey tinges
to indicate that a storm is coming.
The construction paper method
above is great for creating fairly solid structures such as tornados.
Scatter tornados around the walls, and use cut out red H’s
and Blue L’s, to indicate where the high and low pressure
zones would be to create this effect. You can add a flying cow
or other farm animals floating around the tornado for a comic
effect.
To create the appearance of precipitation
in the room, tape Christmas tinsel, or strips of reflective wrapping
paper to the ceiling. Dark billowing clouds can be designed using
puffs of cotton painted grey. These can be strung with some twine
and hung at different levels to add a dimensional feel to the
effect. You can even make lightning bolts with cardboard covered
in yellow or reflective gold sheets.
Snow is also easy to simulate.
Get large numbers of white throw pillows, or pillow cases, and
scatter them around the room. Additionally, you can take a white
sheet, and draw snowflakes across its surface. Using a snowflake
stencil will make this much easier. Then drape the sheet across
the floor, walls, and or ceiling to cover the room in snow. Paper
doilies hung from the ceiling, and complimenting the walls, are
another way to create this effect.
Your decorations can be as simple
or complicated as you like. You will probably want to start off
with just one or two ideas, and get a feel for the child’s
interest level, and how the effects work together in the room.
Experiment, and work with them to come up with your own ideas.
The whole process should be an attempt to inspire your child’s
curiosity and creativity.
Children should not try any of
these ideas out themselves without the consent and supervision
of an adult. Caution should always be used in any activity that
involves a child. Make certain that none of your decorative efforts
causes any damage to the child’s safety.
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