Child's play: Craft-books author Nancy Blakey says her message for parents is simple

Anyone reading children's craft books has to wonder if an adult could manage the complicated directions, much less a child. Just as most of us will never achieve Martha Stewart levels of cooking perfection, so, too, most of our kids will never sculpt, say, intricate chess pieces from play clay.

Nor should they, says Nancy Blakey, the Bainbridge Island author of the new "Go Outside: Over 130 Activities for Outdoor Adventures" and the Mudpies series of activity books, including "Mudpies Book of Boredom Busters" (1999); "Lotions, Potions and Slime: Mudpies and More" (1996); "The Mudpies Activity Book: Recipes for Invention" (1995); and "More Mudpies: 101 Alternatives to Television" (1994). All are published by Tricycle Press.

As the Mudpies title suggests, her books emphasize decidedly low-tech, child-driven art and science projects. Indeed, Blakey says, if it were up to her she'd simply list supplies necessary for different projects and let the kids figure out how to put them together. But parents crave directions as a way to get started, she said.

This summer she is leading workshops at several libraries on two easy, gooey science projects: making oobleck out of water and cornstarch, and Gak from Elmer's glue and Borax.

With her four children — Jenna, 22; Ben, 20; Daniel, 18; and Nick, 16 — almost grown, she expects "Go Outside" to be her last book.

When she speaks to cooperative preschools and parent groups, she often asks for the audience members' favorite childhood memories. Nearly all of them come up with something outside, from swimming out to the dock in the middle of the lake to playing hide-and-seek with neighborhood kids, she said.

"Our senses are more alert when we step outdoors," she says. "Outdoors is also where kids are the least structured with their time."

Blakey's Mudpies books are collections of her columns in the monthly Seattle's Child magazine. A stay-at-home mom, she doesn't have a background in art or science but lets practical experience with her kids guide projects.

She warns parents at library workshops to be careful where they store their Gak: When one of her sons was young, he stored his without a bag on a shelf above his bed. Over the night, it slowly cascaded over the shelf's edge and dripped down into his hair. "He woke up in the morning with a little slime hat," she said. "It took forever to get out."

Despite mishaps, encouraging her children's imaginations paid off, she said, as her daughter just received her bachelor of science degree and her 18-year-old spent the spring building a 10-foot airplane with a motor scavenged from a Weed Eater.

"We need good problem-solvers and creative, flexible thinkers," Blakey said. "Childhood goes by so quickly. Parents shouldn't wait for the right materials or the right time. Projects are fine, but creativity is more a state of mind."

Stephanie Dunnewind: 206-464-2091 or sdunnewind@seattletimes.com