A friend gave us a table for Ella and Juju to use downstairs. They love to colour down there. A great thing about their table is that it is a mini version of our kitchen table (it even has a red chair).
I now let Ella colour during her quiet time. She knows only to colour on the table, and normally does quite well with this. The only thing she has trouble with is putting red crayon on her lips. After applying her crayon, she rushes upstairs and says "look at my lip gloss". So, she's still learning to colour only on the paper (but at least she doesn't colour on the walls or the table).
The other day, Ella was in a bit of a mood before she went for quiet time. She was saying that she was going to do some things that she knew she isn't aloud to do. ("I'm going to go down there and dump all my crayons on the floor").
She didn't dump her crayons on the floor, but she found another way to try to "get my goat". We have been reading through the story of the Good Samaritan and learning that we should always help others who are in need. So she came upstairs and this was the conversation that followed:
E- I decided to not dump my crayons on the floor
M- That was a great choice, Ella.
E- But, there was a hurt man on the side of the road down there and I just passed him by, I didn't stop to help him.