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I have supplies out, but in a 5 drawer plastic container in the kitchen. The only kids allowed to play in the kitchen (right beside the play room) are those 3 and older according to my supervision plan. ("3 and older can play in a separate room within hearing distance, depending on maturity of child"). My younger ones can use the supplies when we are in there as a group and I can supervise them.
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Yeah, I am thinking about having limited supplies too. With a 9 year old I used to watch I would have coloring books and crayons to give her something to do after homework, I sometimes watched her up to 8 days straight (and I was in school full time) so she needed something to do besides watch tv.
My mom once bought one of those nice $10 coloring/sticker book (I didn't tell her to buy it, she just baught it; I got most of mine at the $1 store) and on the first day she got it would only color some parts of a page (like tinkerbells dress) before jumping to the next one and had almost every page colored and 1/2 the stickers were gone on it in the first 1/2 hour! I looked at the other pages and told her not to color any more pages until she went back and finished coloring the previous pages (and no more stickers). She has always had very little patience and always acted carelessly with things that didn't belong to her. So I had to set up some limits.Comment
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The ones I have now do fine with it.
But my old ones, who were younger at the time, also handled it. Even paint and play dough. I was always checking on them, but as far as misusing the materials or making too big of a mess, I had (and still have) a "one and done" policy about it. Seems to nip most issues in the bud.Comment
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I allow free access to my art supplies except for paint and most of my collage materials. My DH recently made me a little child size writing desk so for now (due to lack of space) our "writing center" also houses a lot of my art supplies.
My age groups for my regular FT and PT children (including my own children) are 12 months (walking), 2yo, two 3yo's, two 4yo's, and an 8yo and they all do just fine with the materials out all of the time. Even my occasional drop-in children do alright, even my very occasions drop-in ADHD 5yo twins.
I keep all of the supplies and materials organized in the the little desk and it holds the less messy items lowers and the messier items are put up the highest. I keep everything from foam stickers, stamps and ink-pads, crayons (regular, rubbing and jumbo, each kept separately), colored pencils, markers (thin and broad tip, each kept separately), glue (school and stick), scissors, drawing paper, writing paper, construction paper, index cards, dry erase boards/markers/erasers, pencils (regular and wide), pencil erasers, pencil sharpener (with shaving catcher), stickers, scotch tape, mini stapler and a small box of collage materials. That's what I have right now that's accessible.
Out of reach I keep the play-dough and the play-dough tools (cookie cutters and other tools) but only because they take up a lot of space in one of those plastic Steralite 3 drawer bins which I keep on top of the desk. The paints and paint supplies I keep out of reach inside a closet in another plastic Steralite 3 drawer bin which is kept on a high shelf. My watercolors, tempera paint and finger-paints are all kept there along with the brushes, paint cups/trays, paint rollers, paint stamps, etc. but that's because of lack of room also.
What I do is limit the desk to one "worker" at a time and I limit the amount of paper that I keep there. I refill as I need to but each child gets 5 sheets of paper a day or so depending on what they are doing. They can ask for more and I will sometimes okay that for example like when they want to create restaurant menus for the dramatic play area so even if they have used up their paper already I will go ahead and give them more since they will be using it for a purpose. The only time that I allow more than one child to use these materials is when I set them out on the table. At that point any child that wants to participate can do so and they can do it until they have used up all of the materials that I have set out or until they get bored and move on to next activity.
One thing that I do is that I start off with VERY minimal amounts of materials and one by one I begin to introduce them by having a lesson on how to properly use the supplies and how to clean them up. I start with the "less messy" supplies such as play-dough and tools and if they do well we move up to crayons and paper, colored pencils and paper, markers and paper, paper and scissors, paper and paint, ink and ink stamps, then add glue sticks, then add school glue etc. If they do well with one material but get really messy or misuse another material I will remove the material until they can respectfully use it. Eventually you have a fully stocked art supply area that's accessible. If one child is already using the art supplies and another child or children want to use the supplies and if they have been "good" and are known to respect the daycare supplies then I will allow them to take the supplies to the table (child-size large table) and use them but they have to clean up after themselves and out everything away.
That's another thing, all materials have their set of rules of how to use them and if they are not followed then they cannot use the materials. So far the only trouble I have had was with my own 2yo son and the markers/crayons when he would draw on surfaces. I put them up higher and out of his reach but still within the reach of the other children but I have since reintroduced them again and he is doing well but requires direct supervision.
One way that I prevent waste is by recycling items. They get "junk mail" and old newspapers/magazines to cut up and glue with until they get the hang of things and for drawing paper I have DK clients and my mom bring me scratch paper from their work (like paper that has been printed on one side only etc). This paper is kept in a box and can be used all up if they want to. They quickly learn to use the materials wisely (and color on an entire page instead of just scribbling some little doodles and then getting another page) because they learn that they run out.
Start small, and then add. HTH
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I am still figuring this out. I don't like wastefulness and I dont like messes. I am talking about the dumping out and other non-art related messes. But I do have a mix of ages and some special needs kids and not everyone can handle open access, in fact most of my group can not. I do do some limited access where we will have art time and I would put out a variety of supplies and let the kids go at it. I rarely do specific crafts unless the child is actually completing the craft (and not me assembling things!). so dont feel bad if it doesnt work for you. I am going to be revamping my playroom and creating an art area that is off limits to the babies and toddlers and give the older kids a bit more freedom but again, I am sure I will have limits on it. I dont have the funds to be buying art supplies all the time and I have a few kids here that would be blasting thru supplies if I let them have free reign.Comment
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thank you for all of the imput it was all very interesting and help. I think we will keep the free access to something and introduce the kittle one to a smaller amount first to contain the mess. I will also limit the amount of supplies they can use in one day.Comment
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I see you magoo :-)All of my art supplies are in a closet. If the kids want to use them, all they have to do is ask. I could never allow free access.. it would be a disaster. And there is also a question of whether or not the time is right.. they do their projects at the kitchen table and sometimes the table is busy with kids doing other stuff.
One of the smartest women I have ever had the pleasure to know... for a long time.Comment
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