Pre-schooler Crafting - or Lack Thereof

I did lots of craft stuff with my kids and my daycare / nanny kids. Here is the number one thing you need to know about crafting with kids. I can't stress it enough so am going to put it all in caps lol. IT'S THE PROCESS NOT THE PROJECT THAT COUNTS!!! ok off my soap box now. craft projects at that age are to get comfortable with the materials. the glue, and glue sticks. I put glue in milk jug lids and give them q tips to spread it. thus saving the rest of the table from a big glue mess. the scissors, the paper, feathers, beans macaroni etc. Its not about how perfect the snowman is constructed but about the gluing stuff together. I had a preschool teacher tear my sons snowman eyes off and reglue them herself as she felt they were not in the right place. Get some things and put them in a box and it becomes the art box. I have had the same box for years (it came originally from sams with frozen waffles) in it we have glue, paste, pipe cleaners, glitter, water color paint, markers, crayons, scissors, stapler, hole puncher, old greeting cards, feathers, a ziplock of sequins, one of macaroni, one of rice and one of beans. when the kids are bored out of their skulls we pull out the box, layer the table with old newspaper and let them create till their hearts are content. its a big messy noisy time and they love it. don't give them specific finished projects to make except for a vague starting point. ex: lets make some book marks and then let them go at it. he will love it.

I love www.notimeforflashcards.com! She has fantastic crafts for the younger set.

My son was never interested in crafts either (well, he is now at age 6 but before this, nothing crafty). He instead loves to build things so we do things with LEGOs, ZOOBs, TRIO, etc.

My boys love to do crafts. Playdough (store bought and homemade), coloring, painting, cereal necklaces, I write their name in glue and they stick pom poms and beads on the glue, ect...
I prevent a lot of messes just by sitting right there and supervising. I also take a trash bag and cut off the seal at the bottom and make a cut up one side. I lay the flat bag out on the table first, then wrap it up with all the scraps at the end and throw away. I also have aprons for my boys or they just go shirtless.

If you are on Facebook..find Teach Preschool and "like" it. Let it go to your newsfeed and everyday 6-10 links of family and childcare friendly blogs will come up. Most are preschool appropriate and easy to do, developmentally approrpiate learning and fun activities that will leave you saying "why didn't I think of that???" You can then "favorite" the individual blogs...or just watch for the ideas on your FB feed. It is a plethora of easy ideas, themes and suggestions by alot of mommy's, daycare providers and early childhood teachers and caregivers.

She also just has the blog of her own, with links to these other blogs, but I like the FB options and surprises in my newsfeed!

http://www.teachpreschool.org/
https://www.facebook.com/#!/Teachpreschool

I'm so not into doing art projects. I wanted to so badly with my first son and even now with our second. but I'm am just not creative like that. We never really even sat down to color. And the crafting thing just seemed like more trouble than it was worth. So we wound up doing a lot of stuff with music, reading, counting, etc.

He doesn't really do many crafts now either (4.5 y.o.), but he is starting to do more as his teacher really pushes him to (at my request!). He does like painting and when I pull it out and let him go at home he loves it. But just makes "abstract art" with it. He does like play doh alot, but I'm clueless there too, so I bought the molds for that, even! LOL

One last thing that made me feel awful about this weakness on my end was at the Easter Egg Hunt/coloring contest. Everyone else his age turned in decent drawings that stayed in the lines and had different colors. My DS, whom I am proud of regardless, turned in a scribbled, unicolored work. :-( I just had to ask myself how many of those kids can count out 1/4, 1/2, and whole notes, or know all of the notes on a piano, OR can tell me what key I am playing while blindfolded??? Not one (except mine), I bet! :-)

Just depends on where your strengths are, I suppose and mine were never there.

If you are afraid of the mess, you may want to do some of the crafts outside or place a large piece of plastic under the table.

If your child does not have his own sized table, you can cover your kitchen table with newspaper. then when he is finished, you just roll up the newspaper and throw it away.

Craft projects are great for bad weather days, so keep som ideas and supplies for those days too.

Crafts help develop fine motor skills. He will need to build up those muscles, so he can hold a pencil and use scissors.

There are lots of ideas on line and also craft stores have very inexpensive kits. I liked to go to the library and check out craft idea books..

I don't have any advice, but your post made me remember something from when my now 16 yr old dgtr was in preschool. Another mom was complaining about the $50 per semester supply fee because her son never brought home any craft projects. My dgtr (same age, same class) was constantly bringing home projects completely saturated with glitter, feathers, beads...you name it! I wasn't a "crafty" mom either, I think some kids are just attracted to those activities and some are not. Don't beat yourself up! It will all turn out okay!

Pipe cleaners and foam sticker kits are great ways to be creative without making too much mess. Or make collages by stapling paper, yarn, and fabric together. The hardest projects to clean up I found were modeling clay, silly putty, and moon sand. Even with the table covered and working over a tray, little bits would bounce onto the floor.
Another thing that's great for boys(not exactly art) is the free kids building projects at Lowes or Home Depot.

You definitely don't have to have a grand plan to create a fun craft project for your son! Sometimes I just put random things out and see what my kids come up with. Today I put out a bowl of Cheerios and some pipe cleaners. They loved it! They weren't even sure what the finished result was, but it was fun.

Doing projects outside is a great way to avoid the mess. Paints, markers, crayons, playdoh - all are great outside to minimize clean-up. When we use paint, I like to put blobs of it on a paper plate, or even in an egg carton, then just throw it away when they're done.

Some websites with great craft ideas are:
www.notimeforflashcards.com
www.familyfun.go.com
www.artistshelpingchildren.org

You can also find places outside your home for craft opportunities, like the library or local craft stores. That way, you don't have to come up with an idea or do any clean-up at all - you just get to enjoy the finished product!

Craft projects are great for kids' imaginations, and many of the tools they use help strengthen their hands to get them ready for writing. But don't stress - just let it be fun!!

Good luck to you!
Jen
www.morethanmothers.com

There's a ton of great craft projects on the website www.familyfun.com. My son is not as into crafting as my daughter is so I suspect that it is a "boy thing." We are going to do these cool pipecleaner penguins that I found on the Family Fun site for one of his second grade projects to sell at their behavior bucks bazaar (they are learning aboung economy and commerce). Super simple to make and doesn't require a lot of supplies or mess.

I am not a crafty mom either, and my son gets plenty of exposure to that at school. At our house, we do now have washable markers, glue sticks, and lots of paper. In the fall, my son had the MOST fun gluing leaves to paper. He also likes to glue rocks to paper - and would you believe they stick with just glue stick - i was shocked! Anyhoo, my point is that you don't need to get a bunch of stuff. They can have fun with anything if they want to. And if your son isn't into crafts, good for him for not feeling like he HAS to do it if he doesn't want to. You should both be yourselves and do whatever you enjoy donig!

Best site for ideas.

familyfun.go.com

Since you seem intimidated about the whole idea of doing organized crafts I would just get some basic supplies and let him play and explore.
Scissors and construction paper: cutting will help develop fine motor skills.
Markers, crayons, paper and paint (watercolor isn't that messy) drawing and painting promotes early writing skills.
Play Doh: kids love it, very creative and fun!
Glue: creating collages out of pictures cut from magazines, or leaves, things from nature can be fun and easy.
Beading is another great activity that promotes fine motor skills.
As far as clean up goes, I never found any of it that messy, just keep it contained to the table or counter.
Like I said, just provide some basic supplies and let him see if and how much he likes it. Have fun!

My 8 yo son has never been too interested in crafts.
I know you want to do it, but does he? You'll know soon enough! LOL

enchantedlearning.com has a lot of ideas. actually if you google "preschool craft activities" you'll find a lot of websites with a lot of ideas.

don't worry about the mess. kids make messes, but they aren't extreme! just use a table cloth or newspaper or something if you are crafting with something that might make a mess. We use a craft table. It's solely for messier things. But when I used to use our dinner table, a table cloth was all I needed.

a fun activity is to get a casserole dish of water (I use those toss away casserole dishes, so it's made out of non-breakable stuff). I put water in it about a 2-3 inches deep. then i put in little toys like frogs, worms, and other little toys. i put the dish on a folded towel to soak up any spilled water. i do one per kids. my kids will play for quite a while with it. it's just water and some little toys. they think it's fun. doing the same thing with rice or sand works too, but i find that quite a bit messier! i was going to link you to my blog to show you exactly what i mean, but i can't find my blog entry about it! but i've never heard of a kid that doesn't like it.

my biggest suggestion with any time you do crafts is to make it fun. stay positive and don't expect the kids to stay clean like you would. view it as them being creative:-) of course, throwing paint across the room or something like that isn't okay. but if they get it on the table or their hands or something, don't make it a big deal. they are kids. it WILL happen. so prepare whatever workspace you use for the fact that it will get messy.

my husband has a hard time with that. he focuses too much on being clean instead of making it fun and creative. i have to kindly remind him to focus on the important part - the fun/creative part. you want your kids to learn to explore and create and use their imagination. anyway, i have a crying baby that i must attend to! i hope this made sense because i wrote it really fast!

My boys don't care much about crafts. They'd rather be running or climbing! I can definitely relate.

Cutting with scissors is an important fine motor skill, but it can be really scary to hand your kid a pair of scissors! A preschool teacher suggested beginning with play doh and play doh scissors. My son loved it!

He's still not that into crafts, but he can do it. His preschool requires it. Sometimes they hang up the art work, and many times you can tell he did the project and went back to playing as soon as the teacher let him. Some of the other kids really got into the projects, and there's lots of detail in theirs. Hey, he tried!