Help! Need a quick gift for the kids to make for their parents

[Dreamalittledream]

So glad you posted this...I too just had no luck with the salt dough ornaments (first attempt); never hardened enough. Will try out the other recipes (next year!)

[5 Little Monkeys]

I'm sending home the parents gifts today. The kids are super excited (a few think it's for them lol) My oldest, an almost 4yr old said "I've never given mom and dad a gift before!" That is why I do it!! So cute!!

[playfelt]

Mine are so young they just are not into it. They would rather even read our "usual" books than any of the special Christmas books. 3 out of 5 have no memory of anything Santaish from last year and the other two are non committal so we are not exactly in the Christmas spirit around here which is not helping. I put up our Christmas window stickees including some bears around a fireplace on the kitchen window and the older two just whined cause it they couldn't see the squirrels on the fence clearly. Oh well I tried.

It wouldn't be so bad if the "gifts" were actually done by the kids but other than slapping a foot or hand print on something the rest is all adult done which defeats the whole purpose in my mind. With 4 and up that take part in the doing and can draw the face etc. great.

[5 Little Monkeys]

Playfelt, I wish you could visit my daycare and see the young ones do their art. You would be amazed at how much they do on their own

This is what we gave the parents....

-a calendar...they did all the artwork for each month on their own.(various stuff such as crayons,markers,stic kers,gluing,painting ) I put their pictures on a few of the pages and got them bound at a UPS store
-2-3 clay ornaments...I cooked it and rolled it out, they choose and cut their shapes out with cookie cutters. They painted them and I put the string on them to hang from tree
-bag of nuts and bolts...they dumped all the ingredients into the pan. I did the sauce as it was hot. They decorated the ziploc bags with stickers and I put the nuts and bolts in them
-a few rice krispie treats...they counted out the marshmallows and dumped the rice krispie in. I stirred it and put in pan
-a bag of art that we have done so far. Things like green and red painted papers, christmas stickers on paper, a christmas tree onament that I glued together and they glued pom pom's on, tree ornaments that they painted from the dollar store and paper with red and green bingo dabber on it.

My group right now is 20 months, 28 months and almost 4 so not too terribly young. I have had younger kids and they all did this same stuff. Sometimes the younger ones are actually better listeners than the oldest!! lol Start them young and they catch on to things much faster!!

**not trying to pressure you into doing art if your not interested (cuz if the adult doesn't want to do art than it's a disaster in the making lol) but I just wanted to say that even the young ones can do art if they are just given the option to try. I had a dad who never believed his son did the art I sent home so I videotaped his son doing it. He was with me from 8 months to 2 years and did art the whole time he was here. Dad never doubted me again LOL

[playfelt]

Mine are 13m, 16m, 23m, 24m, 37m. Two don't even sit on chairs at the playtable yet. The 3 year old still can not use scissors. The two year olds poke playdough but don't have the manual dexterity or strength to cut out anything with the cookie cutters even if I roll it out for them. They scribble with crayons. No one draws anything although the 3 year old attempts to do a circle sometimes. Art is just not something they enjoy.

On the other hand they are doing well with other academics. I have made some games for them with seasonal themes which they can play over and over and that keeps them happier.

It isn't that I'm not interested. I love to craft. I just don't feel at the toddler age I should be forcing the kids to do them if they are not interested.

[playfelt]

Mostly the kind of "art" we do is them coloring a picture and then sticking on something I have cut out like I cut the apples and they colour the tree. Or I cut out the ghosts and they coloured the haunted house. I have a great printer that takes the 11x17 paper which is a great size for them to colour on. I often print something on the page to at least give the parents an idea of what we have been talking about but there is lots of open space too so the kids can either colour the picture part or free draw on the blank parts.

It just seems like all I am hearing is providers stressed out about the gifts they are making for the adults and wondering if the kids are really getting the benefit of the joy of the season. Spending an extra hour a day stuck in a highchair or at the table instead of playing may not be the best use of their time. Thank goodness we only make kids do this a few times a year.

[bright sparks]

This year my group is 10m, 14m, 19m and 2 1/2. The 2yr old loves crafts but doesn't miss that we have not done much this year. 10m old obviously not doing crafts and the other two when given any kind of direction to do anything just stare blankly back at me. We have sang songs, got a couple of Xmas Treasure baskets and sensory tubs going and that really is it. I have reindeers to assemble out of their feet and hands and then I will attempt to have them stick noes and eyes on but that's a bit of a disaster waiting to happen. The two year old has a Pom Pom wreath to make this afternoon and tomorrow I am going to make gingerbread with him while the little ones sleep. He will be able to manage his activities himself with only little direction. I have had a group of under 2's before who have been into crafts and able to do lots but this group is just not interested.

[playfelt]

You hit the problem when you said just look at you blankly. I am so finding kids are taking longer and longer to grasp anything. Even simple commands like we need to take your shoes off, please sit down and they just stand there. Kids these days are really different than they used to be. I am sending kids off to JK with less skills than I expected from the two year olds not that many years ago. I am hearing the same thing from JK/SK/Gr 1 teachers that they are having to scale back their programs to meet the kids where they are at.

I do think kids are not getting the time they need to play. As babies they are held too much or confined into something instead of exercising muscles. Now infants and toddlers are off to swim and gym classes instead of just being and doing their own thing. They come to daycare ready to be entertained that is for sure. I am doing many of the things I was taught to use with special needs kids to try and get them up to par and that is sad. Wrist and shoulder strength is especially poor but that comes from not getting trunk control soon enough from being carried or supported by stuff early on. I know parents mean well but.

Add to that the fact the kids are coming to daycare exhausted they probably aren't processing very much of what we tell them.

[5 Little Monkeys]

I do art like this all year round so my group is used to it. Obviously when I had the 8 and 10 month olds they did age appropriate stuff but even then they did it themselves. I actually preferred when they were in highchairs lol. I just put them in there in their diapers and let them go town! It was much easier to clean up that way too.

I'm lucky that I have had kids who enjoy art. I did have one boy who hated getting his hands dirty with paint so I would just give him a brush. He eventually started to do finger painting on his own.

Nobody knows how to do something for the first time (adults included). This is why we practice, practice, practice I admit, scissors don't come out often here....that will be the new year's goal! lol

[5 Little Monkeys]

I find the same thing.....they blankly stare at me when it's time to get ready to go outside. All of the parents, including the 4 year olds, dress them!!!

About once or twice a week, I gather their jackets or sweaters with zippers, boots and mitts and we practice getting dressed and undressed. It's helped a bit!