This drives me around the bend...

[DayHomeMama]

Sorry, just need to vent...
We're doing a snowman wreath craft and one of the dhc (almost 4) takes her paper, which I have just finished cutting out nicely and proceeds to rip it into shreds. grrrrrr (((

[mimi]

end of craft time for her. At that age she should know better.

[5 Little Monkeys]

I actually would just give her the rest of the pieces for the craft and a piece of paper and she can glue them onto the paper any which way she likes.

I would also let her cut her own next time and maybe that would give her a sense of pride and she won't rip it?

[bright sparks]

At age four it would probably be more appropriate for her to be cutting her own paper for crafts anyway. I agree with 5LM that she may take more pride in what she is doing, but also it would challenge her and likely cure any boredom issues she may be having at craft time.

Personally if she did that to me she would not get the opportunity to carry on with craft, and I would not give her an alternative activity. She would have to watch the rest of the group enjoy their craft activity from the confines of her chair.

[mickyc]

Agree with bright sparks here! She would be done with her craft and have to sit there.

I have 2 - 4 year olds (1 full-time- 1 part-time). Neither one is very good with scissors. Neither one had ever used scissors before until we started using them at daycare. I even bought them both kids scissors for their birthdays but the parent's won't let them use them at home lol. We don't do a lot of cutting although I know I should do more.

[5 Little Monkeys]

I do more art vs craft for this very reason. They are kids and want to make their own creations. They will have plenty of time in school to do projects and crafts.

I do crafts once in awhile but I focus more on art.

[bright sparks]

I do much more sensory and malleable play. Crafts are saved for special occasions and there is no expectation on the child as to what it should look like at the end. It is much more about the process versus the end product.

[DayHomeMama]

The issue that I have with letting this dhc use her own scissors is that she is not careful with them (swinging them around, not paying attention to where they are, etc.) and a lot of the time ends up just shredding paper for the sake of shredding paper. She gets bored of art and craft time very easily, even when we're doing free art time. Any suggestions on lengthening her attention span, easier said than done, I know LOL

[playfelt]

If I am reading correctly, you were cutting the wreath out in front of the kids - that requires waiting and obviously this child is not good at that from the sounds of it. If it was a craft - as much as possible should have been pre done as in the wreaths would have been cut out so once handed the wreath and the other figures most would start playing with the figures.

Think about what the child was doing before you started craft time as in was she engaged in an activity she was enjoying - if so time to rethink importance of craft time. Also was this at the end of a circletime and if so had it gone on too long and she was bored.

What she did was wrong and she would be sitting with her pile of bits until the first one went on the floor on purpose then they would be removed. She would not have gotten the other pieces because she had nothing to glue them to.

When I am doing a craft I have to cut then I give them paper and crayons to colour while waiting their turn to glue. Often I have them colour something and I gather them up and give them paper to be creative while I cut the pieces out and then one by one they glue their craft.

[daycaremom9]

I have a new almost 4 yo dcg that is the same. I spend so much time trying to keep her busy during nap time. Quiet time is getting so exhausting!