Do You Do Crafts With Infants?

[Former Teacher]

I really enjoy doing crafts with children. I enjoy teaching them and having them learn new things.

I now nanny for 2 boys. They are currently 8 months old. Monday we finger painted hearts. The babies had a BLAST.

I know some providers do not do crafts etc with the children. My question though for those who do. Do you include infants in your daily craft?

Of course tuning it to their level happyface

[daycare]

I dont have any infants here, but when I did work with infants in the past , I always tried to find ways to involve them.

process art/activities is more what I could say that we did. They love love love the water tables, filling buckets of water and then dumping into other buckets. I wquld some times add bubbles or food color dye to make colors. they would mix them and then see what happened in the end.

we would paint with our feet, roll in the paint, and etc...of course we did this outside when it was warm.

I took a huge coffee can and cut a whole in the top of the lid so that the kids could push things through it. Then they would take it out dump it and do it all over again.

If I think of more I will let you know....Hopefully i helped some because I just realized that you said craft projects......

[Former Teacher]

I dont have any infants here, but when I did work with infants in the past , I always tried to find ways to involve them.

process art/activities is more what I could say that we did. They love love love the water tables, filling buckets of water and then dumping into other buckets. I wquld some times add bubbles or food color dye to make colors. they would mix them and then see what happened in the end.

we would paint with our feet, roll in the paint, and etc...of course we did this outside when it was warm.

I took a huge coffee can and cut a whole in the top of the lid so that the kids could push things through it. Then they would take it out dump it and do it all over again.

If I think of more I will let you know....Hopefully i helped some because I just realized that you said craft projects......

So sorry!

Yes I meant craft projects ::

[juliebug]

i answered no because i don't do daily crafts but with 4 one year old that is just crazy! :: we do special project for holidays, and birthdays.

[LK5kids]

No, doing creative art with infants just is not my thing! I do start as soon as they are interested after they are a year old. I suppose around 18 mo.

[spud912]

If there was a sometimes selection, I would select that. I include them if they are awake, in the right mindset and they can do it safely with minimal intervention. For example, I include them for finger painting and play dough if they won't eat it, but I would not include them when we work with small pieces and scissors (I know, that is common sense ). I also include them if the item is a keepsake for the parents (like those that involve hand prints).

[nanglgrl]

I answered no. The youngest I take is 8 months but its been a while since I had anyone younger than 15 months. The only "crafts" I do with children under 4 would be considered process art. I get the paint and different kinds of rollers and brushes and let them go to town or I get out the stamps, stickers, scissors etc. and they make a delightful mess. I only do product art if they are 4 and can do all of a craft on their own with basic instructions.
Maybe I was doing something wrong or maybe I'm not interpreting what you are saying correctly but when I tried to do "crafts" with the littles it seemed like I was doing 99% of the work and the kids were getting little if any enjoyment out of it. I tell parents at their interview that their children will rarely, if ever, come home with something that looks so great they'll want to brag to everyone and put it on the refrigerator. I tell them that their child will come home with a paper with scribbles on it that has been cut with safety scissors just because or a painting that was many colors but after after all of the mixing it has turned to a brown, wet, soggy mess with a hole in it.
I started telling parents this during the interview because I found it was a good way to gauge what parents knew about development and what they expected from me. I've been surprised by the reactions. So far not one potential client has been disappointed and the overwhelming response I get goes something like the one I got at an interview last night, "at his old daycare he came home with things that I knew he couldn't do on his own. He's my child I know what he can and can't do and having every single piece of a chicken cut out nicely and glued perfectly onto a paper is NOT something he can do."

[EchoMom]

I said no only because you said DAILY crafts. I don't do a DAILY craft with anyone. I do crafts/art with the 2 year olds anywhere from 1-4 days a week. My own DS I have always let participate to the best of his ability because he's very precocious. But in general no, I don't let the babies participate in the art time because they just put the materials in their mouth and monopolize my time so I can't help the 2 year olds really enjoy their activity time.

But occasionally, when appropriate, yes. I had ALL the kids, even the infants make plaster handprints and helped them finger paint them. I had one year olds attempt sticker art.

But really I don't think parents want stuff that I made and I don't think infants are really able to appreciate it or enjoy it as much as just having their freedom of movement to crawl and toddle around the house playing and exploring.

Activities YES, but you asked about crafts so no.

[Lyss]

I don't consider them crafts but I try to do art or exploration activities with my little ones. I have 2 littles (both 13mos now), 2 two year olds and an occasional 4yr old. the babies have been doing art since 5 month's. obviously not the in-depth ones but paint, crayons, markers, sensory tubs... I just keep close and monitor. I usually start art after snack which my little ones take 20mins longer to eat so the older kids do it while the little ones finish then the little ones do art or a modified art. I've used our ball pit tub (it's a small inflatable kiddie pool) for messy projects inside but usually I just put a large piece of crate paper down.

my group's small so it's doable for me. I think if I had larger numbers it may be different.

[Crystal]

This is the extent of "crafts" that I do with infants:

[Crystal]

I accidentally voted no......but I do. The painting this infant is doing happened because the older children were working with acrylics and canvas and she REALLY wanted to get involved, so I threw down a large piece of paper and some paint and let her go for it while I was right next to her with the older group. This type of thing happens frequently, but only when the infant/toddler shows an interest. She was 10 months old in these photos.

[crazydaycarelady]

I don't do crafts with the kids until they are 2yo or nearly 2yo. Occasionaly maybe if we are doing a handprint thing but other than that no.

[Blackcat31]

This is the extent of "crafts" that I do with infants:

ADORABLE!!!

I read a blog entry not too long ago where tha gal took one of those foil emergency blankets you get in car kits and let her baby (about 10 months old) play with it.

She said it was one of the best sensory experiences she found. She posted photos of her baby playing with it and your pictures reminded me of it. It looked super fun and really cool so now I added it to my list of things to try.

For me when I let the little paint like that I plop them inside a plastic blow up pool to contain the mess...and them when they become the mess. ::

[CozyHome]

I voted yes, because my infants learn painting, finger painting, manipulating playdo, placing eyes and noses and feathers and cotton balls etc. onto glue and pushing it down so it's sticky and pretty to make a picture. I make my own playdo and my own fingerpaints and goop and slime and all kinds of things like that.

However, I don't believe in 'sensory bins'. I think they are silly and that every thing a child touches in their entire lives is 'sensory' so we are all different in our beliefs.

[Heidi]

I accidentally voted no......but I do. The painting this infant is doing happened because the older children were working with acrylics and canvas and she REALLY wanted to get involved, so I threw down a large piece of paper and some paint and let her go for it while I was right next to her with the older group. This type of thing happens frequently, but only when the infant/toddler shows an interest. She was 10 months old in these photos.

When my instructor was here observing me recently, I let my 14 mo paint with tempera. She wasn't sure of his age, but told me that "I think they are going to be changing that-and say that you CANNOT do art like that with under 1's." (implying FCCER's or Youngstar).

I said "well, he is 14 months...I thought they encouraged us to offer art materials early. Why do you think?"

"Because of that....(pointing to him putting paint on his mouth)."

What do you think, Crystal?

On the one hand, I'm not sure what he is getting out of it..crayons and paint still go to the mouth, even though I say "not to eat, dcb, on the paper"

On the other hand, I only offer him "non-toxic" activities, and it's still occasional, because I don't completely buy the "non-toxic" idea.