How much arts and crafts do you do with toddlers???

Good morning ladies :-) I am looking for some feedback on arts and crafts with toddlers. How much does everyone do? How does it go?
I had a comment from a parent the other day saying how much crafts they do with their dcg at home. Have I tried any of that here?
Currently I have my own son who is 17 months and 4 full time toddlers 12m, 16m, 17m and 18m. I have tried finger painting ONCE and that was enough work prepping cleaning up and repeatedly saying "Not in your mouth". Tried playdoh, same thing and with the crayons and markers none of them knew what to do with them and one by one started to put them in their mouths.
I like to keep my program scheduled yet flexible. If its a nice day we may spend the entire day (after naps) at the park and in the backyard, we may even eat lunch outside. If its a miserable day we do more reading, singing, free play. I also have puppets, and a sensory table for outside along with all my ride on toys, slides, climbers, sandbox, water tables etc.
I just wonder if I should be doing "more" with these kids.
My plan is come the winter to do much more crafting as I will be entering my last trimester of pregnancy so be moving quite slowly LOL.
Just wondering all the providers who have wee ones how much arts and crafts do you do and any other ideas for activities.
Thanks so much :-)

I don't do a ton of crafts, but I come up with something cute for them to make for all of the holidays, mothers/fathers day, the seasons, etc, something they can take home on a semi-regular basis for mom and dad. Besides that, I do play-doh, crayons/washable markers, gluing, etc, but with the littlest ones I have them do it one at a time under my direct supervision. :)

I do very little for the same reasons you are finding. While it can be done, there is a lot of down time as kids wait or if you do it individually time the other kids are left semi-supervised unless you are crafting in the playroom instead of the kitchen. I do a lot of group activities and turn it into a game rather than a craft such as cutting out shapes and arranging them on a piece of board and then taking them off and playing again with everyone contributing to our "picture" but nothing is glued and nothing goes home. We put it away and play again another day.

Remind the parent that they are working one on one with their child and that is only possible when there is only one child in care not a group. Remind her that if you are working with another child to do their art it would be her child that would be left unsupervised/semi-supervised to entertain herself while you did that times each child so 10 minutes of attention out of the entire hour. As compared to what you offer and that is group activities where you all play together and interact socially and build up the positives of the group experience.

Once they get closer to age 2 they are more ready for the skills of art - cutting, gluing, drawing the world around them. For now you need to offer activities that will help them reach that point and that means going out into the world to see what it looks like (outdoor play), reading books (see what others have drawn), games that teach fine motor skills so their wrists and fingers will be ready for cutting when the time comes, and fine motor play teaches hand/eye co-ordination again needed for cutting. Remind the parent you are preparing them for art.

I hate crafting I have 5 under 3 so the older two do colouring and they all like to draw on the chalkboard..... But other then at holidays I don't do it .... At that age it just ends up being my creation that gets sent home. I have done finger painting for a holiday gift to go home and I did each child one at a time with a paint smock on and I could focus my attention on that one kid so there was no putting it in their mouth, minimal mess, ect..... I have two crafts lined up for Halloween ... One is foam stickers and the other is stamping.... But as you can tell they are non messy crafts .... I never liked crafting as a child I hated to get my hands gooey and I still hate it. Not to mention with 5 toddlers I have enough to do without cleaning up more mess. Parents that craft at home with their child is easy they only have one.
Same as baking .... I'm not a huge baker but when I do I try to do it without my kids unless its just cookies.... My 9 yr old loves to bake and he does it all the time. He can read the recipe and get out all the ingredients, he checks with me if he's unsure about something but I only do the oven part he does all the rest and puts each ingredient away after he uses it. ; ) my kind of baker !!!

Thank you!!!
I actually did say something to mom, kind of a "Yes, its ALOT easier when you have just one, trying that here is alot of work!" I think that she got it.
I think that there is alot they are learning at this age without all the crafty stuff. I do plan on in the winter/spring once they are all approaching 2 years of age doing more with them craft wise and definitely for a holiday/special occasion.
Parents don't seem to get it when they only have 1 child. When my older 3 were younger I always had 1 awake during naptime for the others so I was able to spend that time one on one and do the craft together. When its 5 1 years olds that way too much for a pregnant lady with no energy and still morning sickness.

I do little crafting as well. I do seasonal changes and holiday themes. The kids give me a few minutes attention for a craft so sometimes I will do one craft over a week like I am doing now. Yesterday we coloured a picture of a turkey. Today we are gluing on some feathers. Tomorrow we will add some brown yarn for the body and tomorrow we will add some green shredded paper for the grass. It is a chore.
I much prefer to spend time outside as the kids have a blast playing in the backyard, park and going for a walk and I tell the parents outdoor time trumps crafting.

Totally agree Mimi!!!

Whew! So relieved:). Thanks for posting this; I too was feeling a little guilty for not doing as much in the way of crafts lately. We've just been spending so much time outdoors and, of course, the same challenges you all have mentioned as well. For sure, I do seasonal stuff but daily or weekly crafts...nope. My intent this year was to get back to doing a letter or number theme each week...but it's now well over a month into my new session and have not implemented as yet. For sure will be easier as we spend more time indoors in the coming weeks.

I always plan for September with good intentions but then weather dictates we don't waste it and of course as soon as school goes back in the illnesses start for the first round. We usually do some things for Halloween with the idea we read a book, do a craft and then play with what we made so more likely to be a spider on a string or a witch on a stick as a puppet. Often it is what I used to go with the story and the kids make their own.

Mostly I find I do my biggest "academic" unit from January to March while we are stuck inside and since my turnover time is Sept then the babies I started are now 16 months and better able to join us, out of morning naps, etc. so we are a much more unified group. As well it is kindergarten registration time so for the oldest ones we can use that as our reason to get into playing school starting with a review of shapes, colours, etc to see what they know. It makes a great alternative to snowmen and mittens.

Just finished crocheting a small pumpkin for the kids and they were fascinated helping to put some stuffing in it and then watch me sew it closed. Have promised to make a few more - well at least one more for this year so less fighting with more to come in future years. That is the kind of crafting I do, lol. I make teaching resources and finish them in front of the kids to encourage interest.

When I took some ECE courses they strongly suggested that you focus more on art than crafts. Crafts have an end product that you want them to accomplish and art is more freedom and their choice and less pressure. I do crafts once in awhile more so for holidays or parent gifts but I do art almost daily. I have 18 month olds, 2 year old, 3.5 year old. I have done art with my much younger kids as well when they were 8 and 10 month old. They all for the most part love it. The boys I had before didn't really like getting their hands dirty though so we painted with brushes instead of their fingers.

We do gluing a lot and I help them put glue all over their page and then they get to stick what I have provided on the page. I will offer things such as feathers, pom poms, googly eyes, shapes cut out of paper etc. We also do chalk on black paper, markers, crayons, stickers, paint. I try and change it up so we are different things with the stuff. Sometimes I will put paint on a sponge in a big ziploc bag with a piece of paper and they squish the paint, I will put paper and marbles dipped in paint in a pringles container and they shake it.I have also put a piece of paper in a baking dish and they use the marbles and roll them over the page. We break the crayons they want and melt them in the oven in a muffin tray and then they get to use those crayons to colour. I have put paint in water guns and taped paper in the tub and let them squirt it. We do this outside in the snow too. Pinterest has lots of good and fun ideas!! We have done the melted crayon art with a blow dryer and they really liked that and watching the crayon get splattered!! I also have them do a painting on canvas and I hang those on my wall for decor.

We also bake kinda often and they help me. I have done things from scratch and also from a bag. The bag/box mixes are much easier for a lazy day lol. They get to ice their own cookie or muffin if we have icing.

I find starting them young isn't really that hard as they catch on quick what is allowed and what isn't. I haven't introduced scissors yet as I'm a little scared lol. We have playdoh scissors and none of them even touch them yet. Sometimes we do it all at once and other times I do it one on one with the others watching it or playing until it's their turn. I have done sparkles and glitter in the past and that was a mistake!! It is really hard to clean that up once it's been thrown LOL

If you like doing art like I do then the kids pick up on that and usually have fun doing it too. If you don't like doing art then don't stress yourself out over it. The kids will be fine :)

For myself I do more with kids that are over 2. Those that are under 2 usually just get a piece of paper and a washable marker.

You have a lot of young kids. I wouldn't worry too much about what the parents think. It is easy for them to do things with 1 child. They wouldn't do so much either if they had 5 kids under the age of 2!

I do seasonal crafts mainly focused around holidays for all ages. I do more regular projects only when I have a group that is all preschool age. When I have a much younger age group, I focus more on sensory and malleable play as it is an important part of development and is an opportunity for discovery and fine motor development which is needed in order to carry out crafts at later stages. Clean up doesn't bother me and I wouldn't let it hinder there opportunities just because it is a ball ache to clean up lol. I just think outside the box as to where and how we carry certain activities out and have spare onesies for everyone so they can just wear them and have them whipped off quickly for the wash after to make clean up a sinch.

I don't do any crafts with the kids. :eek: Seriously....none.

However, art supplies are out and available for the kids any time they want to use them.

I hate cookie cutter boxed crafts and apparently most my daycare families do too because I used to find them left in the bottoms of the kids' cubbies, diaper bags or floating around the lawn.

It is so much less stress now. Plus as a mom, who wants a paper crafted heart from your daycare provider that says "I love you!"? :laugh:

I know it says it was from your child but anyone who does crafts knows the majority of the work involved wasn't from the child. :)

Hey, my dck's actually do their art!! lol. Unless it's a craft, then I do offer help and guidance for the under 2's but the art is all theirs!! I hang all the art on the wall and then keep them in a folder until full and then I send home. I am considering getting scrapbooks for every child and putting them in there and then giving to the parent when full or they leave dc.

I had one mom who always teared up when we did handprints or footprints.........I once mentioned how funny it would be if I accidentally sent home the wrong handprint for that child and she was horrified LOL. She did admit that it would be pretty funny though as she wouldn't even know! ha

I do a lot of art actually! My group is older (four 3 yrs olds and a 15 month old), and we do 1-2 creative activities every day. I never do the "this is the right way to do this craft" crafts (glue this here, paint this part red, etc), they are all open activities and way more about the process than the product. They have a great time with the sensory exploration aspect of whatever I lay out, and work on their fine motor skills while at it. It also works very well with my day, to provide breaks in free play for a more focused activity. None of my creative activities are mandatory but they always come running!

Today we are doing handprint turkeys for thanksgiving. All I do is paint their palms brown and press on the paper as the group is very young and would not manage this so I get this foundation down by helping them. Once dry, I have glue and pasters for them to attach feathers, buttons and a googly eye each wherever they want. This is an arts and crafts project that they have done and as I tell all my parents you don't want a picture I have done stuck on your fridge. I think as long as you don't have any expectations on the end result and focus more on the process then all ages can take part. I have under 12 months who don't get glue but can explore the materials by crumpling paper, playing with sparkles, confetti and other collage material so they are still taking part in the activity while the bigger ones make their masterpiece. I think some people have such warped expectations of children and somehow want things to be "perfect". What's perfect IMO is that they had fun, not how perfectly placed the pieces are or the amount of recognition we get from the parents.

brightsparks.......w e did turkey's out of paper plates,feathers, googly eyes yesterday and my prek child says "this isn't how you make them!"......turns out the prek teacher did the same as you! lol, I explained that dc and ps are different so we do different projects. It was cute though.

I am doing the painting thing today but I am going to paint their thumb and hand brown and their 4 fingers different colours to be the feathers. Just a different idea :) Have fun!!

So is it still art if the little ones have a dish of tissue paper to scrumple, rip, stretch, etc and then it all gets tossed in the trash after the activity rather than sent home? That is my issue in the sense that is it necessary to then make them glue the bits onto paper so mom can see what they were doing at daycare or can the playing with the tissue be an activity in and of itself and then they move on to something else that interests them. The task of the day was learning to manipulate the tissue with their hands, exploring it's properties and colours etc. When they are over 2 they will play with the tissue for purpose ie using their scrumpling skills they have been practicing for gluing onto a shape. Is it my art or the child's art if I scrumple the pieces, spread the glue but let them dump them on the paper? Sometimes whatever it takes to thrill a parent and prove our worth I guess.

Sometimes it is about showing parents a finished product as the younger dck's can't verbalize we discovered the properties and colours of tissue paper today. (which is a great idea for little ones) This is a little PR work we do to show the parents some productivity on the part of their kids. A lot of parents don't get that free play is also a huge learning experience for the kids as well. If we tell parents the kids played all day, the parents tend to be disappointed.

Thank you everyone!!! I am feeling SO much better :-)
I do agree with the more "arts" than crafts. I also like the idea of sending home a finished product. However with my current group of parents, I have a feeling that after all the work with this age group spending time setting up, getting them not to put the item in their mouths then the clean up that when sending something home it would end up on the floor of my mudroom or left on the driveway (which happened when I did a daily log so I have since stopped).
I will try again with them once they are all closer to 2 which will be March-on after my new baby arrives and things are more settled. I will have the hubby home on parental leave as well so will have a second set of hands then.

playfelt...I would consider that art!! It's not just art if it's sent home. We do things all day that the parents don't see but it doesn't mean we didn't do it. I do art from a young age because it teaches sooooo many different things and the kids I have and had had enjoy it. If they cried when I did it then I would stop as it obviously isn't something they enjoy yet.

Mimi....I agree with you! I also send pictures to the parents of the kids playing and doing things throughout the day so the parents can actually see for themselves what we do all day. It is better than just telling them in my opinion. This is something that all the parents love especially new parents as they tend to be a little leary of leaving their loved one in someone else's care for often the first time.

sassy...I totally understand that some days it just isn't worth all the extra cleaning and prep work that goes into doing certain things. I just try to remind myself that I am here for ten hours every day anyways so we may as well do something that passes the time :) However, I don't have a strict daily schedule of what we do because I try to run our day around the children and their behaviour. If it's a crazy day then the paint stays away and we do something a little less messy!! lol Most of the time though, the art activity calms them down