In a craft slump!

[Skysue]

Hi ladies,

At my daycare we are extremely active in the summer, we get outside daily from 10am -12pm have lunch then quiet time from 1:30- 3:30pm then back outside from 4pm till pick up.

We go to 3 different parks, we rotate to a different one each day: one at the beach and one at the end of a 20 minute forest walk. One a close 5 minutes away. When we go to the beach we are walking a good hour back and forth with an hour at the park then pic nic.

We ride bikes in the afternoon and do water table fun. My group is mostly 3 years old. Does anyone have quick fun craft ideas?

I feel like I am ripping them off by not doing crafts everyday.

[Other Mummy]

I wouldn't be so hard on yourself Skysue. Summer is soo short. And most kids would rather be outside soaking up all the summer fun, chasing butterflies, waterplay etc. Most parents would rather their children get a lot of exercise and outside fun anyway. We save the crafts over here in the summer when it's raining or otherwise inclement weather withstanding.

We did a quick craft on Friday morning when it was raining and it was so simple. Cut a paper plate in half, glue with cotton balls. Then attach strips of different colored construction paper. Voila..instant cloud and rainbow craft!

[mimi]

I would rather know my child is outdoors enjoying lots of physical activity than inside on a beautiful day painting. Your outdoor activities sound great. My kids love to paint the fence with water and colour the sidewalks with chalk. If they really want to paint/colour then perhaps do it outside. We haven't done crafts since Father's Day. We are enjoying the outdoors, playing games and visiting our local parks.

[playfelt]

I would be skipping the crafts too and save them for rainy days or heat alert days or during the "school year". What about some group type crafts where you end up with one thing such as a collage of things from a forest walk or painting with feet outside. Really you don't have enough time left to do a craft given your schedule and I would be leaving the kids to just play with the toys. There are skills there for fine motor they need to practice even though it is summer that they can't do at the park.

My gang like kites. They are younger so paper is still fine. They scribble on a piece of paper while I make lunch and then we set them aside and I tell them I am going to turn their pictures into kites we can use outside after naptime. I attach a string after I do the folding and taping and they run around outside and the kite sort of flies after them but even my 3 year old likes it.

To make the kite use a regular piece of white paper (8 1/2 x11). Fold in half lengthwise - long side to long side. Open back up. Fold each of the top corners down the fold making a point at the top and two side points. Fold each bottom corner in so fold goes from centre point to where the top piece folded down. The bottom pieces will overlap. You should now have 4 points. Tape the top two pieces along the fold middle fold line so they can't open (glue makes it too heavy - use tape). Tape bottom pieces you folded too. but leave the centre open - kinda like a pocket - helps with air lift. Staple a piece of yarn to bottom for tail and then tie the yarn around the staple so it doesn't come out. Cover staple with tape.

[Momof4]

I definitely cut down on crafting and creating except for rainy days all summer long. Sometimes at the end of the week I apologize to the parents because our colouring was outside with sidewalk chalk and all our other fun was outside all week but they are more than happy with that. The children are active and happy and we catch up on crafting and learning for the rest of the year.

We had a lot of rain in our part of the country recently so we've been stuck inside a bit. I told the parents on Friday that we are going out next week even if it's raining, beause I've had enough of that! Lightning will be the only thing that keeps us in this week, rain be damned!

[Skysue]

I definitely cut down on crafting and creating except for rainy days all summer long. Sometimes at the end of the week I apologize to the parents because our colouring was outside with sidewalk chalk and all our other fun was outside all week but they are more than happy with that. The children are active and happy and we catch up on crafting and learning for the rest of the year.

We had a lot of rain in our part of the country recently so we've been stuck inside a bit. I told the parents on Friday that we are going out next week even if it's raining, beause I've had enough of that! Lightning will be the only thing that keeps us in this week, rain be damned!

Us too, we went out 2 times last week in the rain, the kids made mud pies and got crazy dirty, I hosed them all down when we got back it was so much fun.

We even put on our swimsuits and danced in the rain one afternoon during a crazy downpour. I want my group to have fun memories! I know a few of my snobby neighbour's think I'm crazy but too bad for then!