Art and crafts with numerous babies

My three year old son loves to do arts and crafts and we used to do painting, etc. However, now that I have three under two year olds, I am finding it difficult to manage as they eat the crayons, rip the paper, etc. I've tried doing at the kitchen table where they are all strapped into booster seats, but the little ones get frustrated when I won't give them crayons and are not satisfied with toys. My ten month old daughter is the worst...she wants to do everything her brother does ;)Any advice on how I can still have art time?

I do just what you described...everyone at the kitchen table and the little ones are in booster seats. The key is having all the paint/paint trays, glue etc or crayons or markers out and ready to go along with everyone having a paper with their name on it. I go right from morning snack to clearing the table, getting the smocks on and handing out the art supplies. Kids are not going to sit patiently for you to fill paint trays or tear off paper for each kid. They want all their stuff at the same time as the kid next to them so you have to be prepared and move at ultra speed.

I try and get the art stuff ready during a quick free play session and before morning snack and then do morning snack and transition to craft/art time

why not give the little kids the big fat Crayola crayons and some construction paper or a paper plate with a little dab of paint so they can fingerpaint?

The hard thing about craft time is that some kids are way more competent to handle materials and to have the required attention span but usually everyone can do something to varying degrees.

Art time can be uber messy and stressful for the provider but the kids love it :p

Give him art time after supper when it is just him and your daughter which leaves you free to tend to her. Since your son is the oldest can you adjust naptime so after lunch the others start their naps and he has a half hour craft time which tends to be a relaxing time anyways and then lays down for his rest. Or if he goes down with the others does he wake early and can do a craft till the others are awake. The purpose of one of those play yards is to keep the baby and the older child apart since they want to do different activities. Since there are so many younger children you might want to consider some sort of play yard that will allow you to gate off an area that only your older child can go into. If you used shelves to form the walls and then one of the walk through gates you could teach him how to open it to let himself in and out.

Thanks for the advice. I have thought of gating off a corner of the playroom since we have the same issue when he wants to build his train tracks and the babies keep ripping up the track. I may try to do something like that, or save arts and crafts and trains etc. for evenings and weekends until the little ones are a little bigger. The suggestion of the kitchen table and having everyting prepaired ahead is good, but I will have to find something else for the 10 month old and 1 year old to do as they eat everything I give them!

I have an issue with making the little ones sit at the table while the older ones do crafts too in the sense that physical skills are the first to be developed and they need to be down on the floor working on their gross moter and indirectly their fine motor and they manipulate toys. When they have mastered this they will have the muscle control to do and enjoy the crafts. This also solves the issue of eating the supplies. How do you explain to a one year old in a high chair that an orange carrot is for eating but a similar looking orange crayon is not. I so feel it is an inappropriate activity for the one year olds. I know I am in the minority in this but it is something that would solve your problems. This could be the time that you let the babies loose with blocks on the floor and the big kids out of their way.

Thanks Playfelt...I agree with you about the age and arts and crafts. I sometimes feel a sense of pressure that they should be having art time, but really before about 18 months they are babies still and really not ready to do much in that way. I have a 17 month old who enjoys scribbling with crayons for a few minutes, but that's about it. If I had only one child it would be more feasable because I could spend the whole time making sure the crayons don't go in the mouth etc...but what is the value in it really?

I care for 3 - 18 month olds and a two year old plus my own 5 year old. Ever since they were one, they have been doing crafts with me. They all love craft time.

I try to do at least 3 weekly crafts...they all love painting...so I try to use different things to paint with...brushes, toothbrushes, potatos, Q-tips, leaves, sticks, blocks, cars, sponges...this always captivates the interest no matter what age. Today we did pudding finger painting, kids were crazy in love with this. Yes it can be messy at this young age, but put on some aprons and they'll be fine...it's only paint.

They also love stickers and tearing paper and stamping...I've got these great stampers for the little ones that doesn't get all over them and they enjoy it. They also really like the bingo dabbers.

My little ones are always giving crayons...the big chunky ones and they scribble til they heart is content. Sure they try mouthing it, but I'm right there with them and I just say no mouth, yucky...they are non-toxic so I'm not that concerned.

They also love chalk...again i use the chubby chalk and that way they don't get broken as easily.

When doing arts and crafts - especially painting, I strip them down to their diapers - so much more easier to clean up! AND sometimes they get a bath!

I prep my area (kitchen table) after morning snack so that I just have to put them in their booster seats.

It's not the mess I am concerned about, but more the fact that they all try to eat the paint, etc. With 4 out of 5 kids putting the crayons or paints in their mouths, it becomes a bit of a zoo. The other day I tried painting and ended up giving the 10 month old and 13 month old utensils to play with while the others painted because they really are too young in my opinion. That freed me up to monitor the 17 month old and 21 month old more closely and help them out. We may try this strategy again as it sort of worked out.

Oh, I had 16 month old go to put his fingers full of paint in his mouth. I was going to try to stop it, but I let him find out the hard way that it probably doesn't taste so good.... If we don't try these things with them now, they'll most likely try to do it later on.....