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Starting to feel at home...
Help with kids crafts!
Morning everyone
I am having a hard time finding my creativity in this long, cold winter! I have 2x1 yr olds, 3x2 yr olds, and a 3yr old. I need craft ideas.
Also, I am seeking your opinion on what you prefer: I have done both types of crafts, the ones where I just give the kids some white paper and paints to let them make their own creation, or a glue stick and tissue paper, or a pipecleaners and some beads to string. The kids all enjoy this type of (mostly sensory) crafting.
Then I have the parents who talk about some crafts they have seen using just the child's handprint or footprint, and I fill in some eyes, a cute poem or saying, or whatever along the lines of this. I do these special crafts mostly for holidays as keepsakes, but is don't agree with doing this type of thing every day/week! A) it is a hell of a lot of time for me to do this for 6 kids' pictures and B) I don't think it is truly the KIDS' art! They just come to the counter, stamp their hand and go off so I can finish the rest!! Haha!
Any ideas on a happy medium craft that involves both the children's skill and is not going to be tossed as it is just a scribbling of smeared brownish paint!?
Tia!
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We love art around here!! It's such a great way to entertain them while teaching them fine motor skills and it really brightens up our daycare space!
In an ECE course, I was taught that art is when we supply the kids with materials and let them go to town!! This is their chance to let their creativity go and they can do what they like (within reason of course lol) and crafts are when there is an end result in mind. When I first started my hdc, I didn't do many crafts because it was so ingrained in me that crafts were bad (seriously, the centres I worked in NEVER did crafts!!) However, I now do crafts for special occasions and for the occasional letter of the week craft. The footprints and handprints tend to be reserved for presents to the parents but every now and than we do paint our hands and feet for the sensory aspect.
Things we like to do here are....
*paint....I give them a paper plate or pie tin of paint. Things we use to paint with are brushes, fingers, sponges, cars, food,toothbrushes, marbles (I put a piece of paper in a pringles can and marbles dipped in paint and they shake the can)
*glue...for the younger kids I put glue all over their paper and for the older ones they get a bit of glue in a plastic dish with a spreader. Things they like to glue with are pom poms, googly eyes, feathers, random pieces of cut up paper, flower petals, random assorted pieces of shapes and animals, etc
*stickers are a big hit! They can place stickers on paper all day long if I'd let them lol
*glitter....I HATE glitter but every now and then I will bring it out. I put it in white glue and let them spread that around and I have some in a salt shaker that they can dump on their paper and glue. We also have glitter paint that they really like.
* bingo dabbers, markers, crayons and chalk are also things they like. I give them a black piece of paper when we do the chalk. I also have a chalkboard for just random play and they take turns
If I ever need a creative nudge (which is often, I am not creative on my own lol) I just check out pinterest!! Have fun
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to 5 Little Monkeys For This Useful Post:
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Starting to feel at home...
Love, the marble in a pringle can idea 5 little monkeys! thanks!
I do the same, I used to do the more elabroate crafts, but I found it is too much for kids under 2 1/2 -3 and therefoe was just hand over hand for me.
The other suggestion I have is cutting with scissors. When my son was younger he was in OT for fine motor skills (he was born at 24 weeks, and had lots of therapy, mostly to prevent delays) anyways, I was told that by 2yrs they should start handling child scissors ( I was surprised, I thought that was too young). I have only had one parent in my nine years get their child cutting with scissors before me, in fact I have kids that only ever use scissors with me until they go to school. Anyways, get some childrens scissors, and give them some scrape paper and they will have a blast. It is important to teach them the proper way to hold the scissors, so some hand over hand is needed. as they get better, draw lines on the paper and see if they can follow....it is great motor skill work, and you can call it craft (there just isn't much to show for it in the end)
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to MsBell For This Useful Post:
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I tell parents at our intro meeting that alot of what I do is about the process, not the product. I do very few "crafts", as opposed to sensory art experiences. But I do take pictures of the kids doing their art or sensory stuff and email it to the parents.
I, too, will do the handprint stuff only occasionally when it is meant as a present for the parent, it is way too much work for me - alot of the time the "crafts" are 3/4 adult and 1/4 kid participation.
I really wouldn't worry about the parents getting a cute craft that "looks like something". You are there to care for the kids and provide learning experiences for the kids. They are developing all kinds of skills while smearing that brown paint on the paper.
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to AmandaKDT For This Useful Post:
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Hi 3rdtimesacharm....go to..... makingfriends.com, and have fun....one of the crafts that my toddlers ABSOLUTELY love is the shopping cart craft....we cut out different foods etc. from the flyers and we paste them on the cart...they LOVE going shopping....
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to sandylynn For This Useful Post:
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I am more of a craft based daycare. I usually get all my ideas from Pinterest. I do letter of the week. i don't include all kids in all activities. If I have older kids we work on worksheets. Younger ones usually do the same craft but I don't let them have control of the glue bottle and I do any cutting they need.
We do art sometimes but it usually just ends up being a page full of stickers or a scribbling.
As much as it is annoying to think that it all just goes in the garbage the reality is most of it does. I take pictures of what we make for my Facebook page.
I don't often do handprint/footprint crafts. It is messy and extremely time consuming. Special occasion only lol
Whichever style you do is fine. Kids are learning and exploring so it's all good!!!
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to mickyc For This Useful Post:
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I prefer the process oriented art, so we do a lot more of that type. They get the markers, paint, scissors, etc and do what they want.
Yesterday after we read The Foot Book I painted the kids feet. They really enjoyed it, and they really liked the end result, but it was over so quick. I felt like they didn't get to do much "art". The parents loved it though. Go figure!
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The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to superfun For This Useful Post:
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Superfun...my kids love when we do footprints and I do too because watching them giggle while I paint their feet is hilarious!!
Last summer I spread a white sheet on the ground outside and had pie plates of paint. They stepped in the plates and than ran all over the sheet. They had a blast!! They use the sheet for their forts and picnics now.
Clean up was a lot easier too!! Lol
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The Following User Says Thank You to 5 Little Monkeys For This Useful Post:
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Originally Posted by MsBell
Love, the marble in a pringle can idea 5 little monkeys! thanks!
I do the same, I used to do the more elabroate crafts, but I found it is too much for kids under 2 1/2 -3 and therefoe was just hand over hand for me.
The other suggestion I have is cutting with scissors. When my son was younger he was in OT for fine motor skills (he was born at 24 weeks, and had lots of therapy, mostly to prevent delays) anyways, I was told that by 2yrs they should start handling child scissors ( I was surprised, I thought that was too young). I have only had one parent in my nine years get their child cutting with scissors before me, in fact I have kids that only ever use scissors with me until they go to school. Anyways, get some childrens scissors, and give them some scrape paper and they will have a blast. It is important to teach them the proper way to hold the scissors, so some hand over hand is needed. as they get better, draw lines on the paper and see if they can follow....it is great motor skill work, and you can call it craft (there just isn't much to show for it in the end)
Another good mess free painting idea is to place a piece of paper in a large ziplock bag with a paint filled sponge. The child can squeeze the sponge and keep hands clean! Great for the 14 month-ish and younger crew!
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The Following User Says Thank You to 5 Little Monkeys For This Useful Post:
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That sheet idea is great. I think I should try it when the snow is gone.
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