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

[mickyc]

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!

[bright sparks]

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.

[Blackcat3168]

I don't do any crafts with the kids. 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!"?

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.

[5 Little Monkeys]

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

[Lou]

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!

[bright sparks]

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.

[5 Little Monkeys]

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!!

[playfelt]

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.

[mimi]

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.

[Sassygirl]

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.