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We're glad you decided to Come On Over (COO)! We want COO to be something for the whole family - whether you're 6 years old, 36, or 76.
We want to tell you why we create the content that we do.
We want to give you ideas that you can use with the kids in your life.
We want to engage and inspire and refresh you with stuff just for Grown Ups.
Thanks for taking a look. Play for a better life! -
Come On Over! whimsically models a life of play and encourages kids (and the adults in their lives) to play with the arts, play to learn and play for a better life. COO! also models how God is creatively part of all we do.
COO recognizes and reflects the growing body of research that play is critical to the healthy development of all children. It helps children explore ideas, discover new relationships, be creative and just have fun.
Whether it's clever or silly, slyly grown up or slapstick, COO humor is always positive. COO characters model creative play and healthy behaviors.
"Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better."
-Andre Gide
When we talk about God and creativity around here, we like to start with Genesis 1 for our orientation because it talks about God’s creativity. Right up front in the Bible we learn that we are made in God’s image. What do we know about God’s image? Well, that God is creative and relational. That’s a good place to start!
Here’s a helpful bit of scripture that you already have memorized: In the beginning God. Just the first 4 words of the Bible. What if we said those words to ourselves before every choice, every action, every moment of each day? How’s that for orientation?
Leaf catching. As autumn rolls in, go to a park and try to catch leaves as they fall from trees. It’s a fun way to run circles.
Leaf sun catchers. Take your favorite leafs home. Place them between wax paper (waxy side in) and iron the sheets together (placing a dish towel over the wax paper). For extra color, put crayon shavings in with the leaf!
Joel Schoon Tanis is a real life artist. He also plays one on TV. He always has a thing of bubbles in his glove compartment in case of a traffic jam.
Hello
Hello. I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Joel. Yes, the same Joel from Come On Over, but also not the same Joel from Come On Over. Those overalls are actually my real clothes – although now they feel like a costume. I am an artist in real life. I do have a whimsical (almost child-like) outlook on much of life, and I’ve been known to burst into song at random times. That said, I don’t have a talking cat, Mr. Flabbinjaw is actually a buddy from college wearing make-up to look older, and I’m not quite as energetic as you’d imagine from the show. I also am a happily married Christian man with a firecracker of a 3 year-old daughter.
Introductions are a funny thing. You realize how quickly you get labeled. I pretty much labeled myself here – “artist”, “whimsical”, “husband”, “Christian”, “dad”, so you can imagine that in these blogs I’ll be musing about creativity, the arts, parenting and what it means to me to follow Jesus. I could have chosen a whole different set of labels to present to you (“football fanatic”, “dude who always gets spaghetti sauce on his shirt”, “5 minute late guy”). My hope for this space is to share (at least once a week) some thoughts that get past the labels – or at least expand our thinking about them. Maybe soon I’ll be “only 2 minute late spaghetti sauce free guy.” You’ll have to come back and see.
Ceci is a nationally syndicated Christian radio DJ. She's also a mom of 4. This means she's really busy, but not so busy that she doesn't have time to share a few crafty ideas. 
Birthday Banner
We had another birthday this week, another chance to celebrate another year gone by, and another chance to get the family-favorite “Birthday Banner” down from the closet. A few years ago, banners like these were all the rage, and I knew this would be a perfect project to work on with my oldest daughter. She got to choose the fabrics and trace the triangle from the template I made her. I remember it was the first time I let her use “adult-sized” scissors! My joy-filled memories of making this with her probably bely how it really went down. I was probably frustrated because her choice of fabrics wouldn’t have been what I would have chosen, I tend to be too matchy-matchy you know! But those are distant memories now because this silly banner is now the most anticipated birthday event. The kids wake up on their birthdays and just know the first thing they see once they bound down the stairs is the banner hung high, announcing their special day. It’s always the small things, isn’t it? The things you’d never plan on being the biggest hit, the things that didn’t take a bunch of money or weeks to execute just so. The things, well, that aren’t so matchy-matchy after all.
