What To Do?

[SilverSabre25]

I have a little boy who will be two soon and seems to want to express himself with art. He gravitates towards anything that involves drawing and creativity. Great, right?

WRONG. Complicated. He uses the art supplies...but also puts things in his mouth and all over his body. He eats the crayons and markers, scribbles all over his face and clothes with markers, paints his body, etc. Letting him use the art supplies leads to a constant (and I do mean constant) stream of redirection. "Crayon on the paper. Marker on the paper. Not on your body. That doesn't belong in your ear." and so on until I get tired of it and pull him away....which leads to screaming, kicking, face-clawing (his own) fits.

"clean" art (magnadoodles and that sort of thing) is still..."get that out of your ear/nose/mouth, stop that, you can't put that in your belly button" and so on.

HELP. WHAT THE HECK.

(and yes, the rest of his playtime also involves constant redirection away from his mouth/ears/nose/etc)

[daycarediva]

How verbal is he? Can you put him in a high chair or booster, tuck his smock into his shirt (I even cut a hole in a trashbag for head and arms and put in on one especially 'self painting' dcg. Give ONE warning "paper only. Next time all done." and then remove him when he does it.

He sounds like a sensory seeking kid to me. Maybe sensory bins would be a better option for now? Allowing him to dig in colored rice, or beans?

[My3cents]

I have a little boy who will be two soon and seems to want to express himself with art. He gravitates towards anything that involves drawing and creativity. Great, right?

WRONG. Complicated. He uses the art supplies...but also puts things in his mouth and all over his body. He eats the crayons and markers, scribbles all over his face and clothes with markers, paints his body, etc. Letting him use the art supplies leads to a constant (and I do mean constant) stream of redirection. "Crayon on the paper. Marker on the paper. Not on your body. That doesn't belong in your ear." and so on until I get tired of it and pull him away....which leads to screaming, kicking, face-clawing (his own) fits.

"clean" art (magnadoodles and that sort of thing) is still..."get that out of your ear/nose/mouth, stop that, you can't put that in your belly button" and so on.

HELP. WHAT THE HECK.

(and yes, the rest of his playtime also involves constant redirection away from his mouth/ears/nose/etc)

color wonder- goes on the paper but not on the kiddo
I just encourage art and clean up the best I can and often tell the parents he might need a bath tonight, he was pretty creative today.
Mouth- No we don't put crayons in our mouth

[Annalee]

I have a little boy who will be two soon and seems to want to express himself with art. He gravitates towards anything that involves drawing and creativity. Great, right?

WRONG. Complicated. He uses the art supplies...but also puts things in his mouth and all over his body. He eats the crayons and markers, scribbles all over his face and clothes with markers, paints his body, etc. Letting him use the art supplies leads to a constant (and I do mean constant) stream of redirection. "Crayon on the paper. Marker on the paper. Not on your body. That doesn't belong in your ear." and so on until I get tired of it and pull him away....which leads to screaming, kicking, face-clawing (his own) fits.

"clean" art (magnadoodles and that sort of thing) is still..."get that out of your ear/nose/mouth, stop that, you can't put that in your belly button" and so on.

HELP. WHAT THE HECK.

(and yes, the rest of his playtime also involves constant redirection away from his mouth/ears/nose/etc)

I haven't did this but have been told you can take wrapping paper and let the kids put water on a paintbrush and as you paint on the plain side the pic from the paper will come through. They tell me the color doesn't come off on the kids and water is the only mess. This provider said she also plays soft music as the children paint and it calms the children while they express through art.

[daycare]

I would give him his own set of markers and let him do what he wants with them. If he draws on himself, then so be it....I would not fight this. He can just have his own set. If you have one of those Ikea bib/smocks that cover the arms and etc then

I had a child do this and the parents got upset with me becuase they didn't like that I let the kid draw on herself. I said you never know what she will become if I just take away her arts. No joke, this child can draw and paint now the most wonderful things I could ever imagine a child to do at the now age of 4.

It was a phase she went through. I think she like the way that it felt and liked doing it. I paid it no attention and she eventually just stopped doing it.

[Blackcat31]

Plan some whole body sensory/art experiences.

Throw down a shower curtain or blow up pool and let him go crazy in shaving cream or water beads or something similar.

Maybe he really just needs to explore his body and what things feel like.

I dunno....that's all I got off the top of my head.

[Kabob]

This sounds like my son...if I let him, he would literally try to eat the crayons for a while there...it was a tough phase.

For him, edible art projects helped as well as activities that didn't require me to constantly redirect him. It's like dealing with a 1 yo all over again.

Anyway, he really liked pudding painting (you can add food coloring to vanilla pudding or just let them mix the different flavors as it). He also liked flour art: put black paper or a canvas under bowls of flour and water with various items like measuring cups, spoons, paint brushes, etc and let them experiment. Another favorite was making play-doh (edible!) and letting them go at it with rolling pins, cookie cutters, sprinkles, etc.

Other stuff he liked (and still does) are foam blocks, plastic balls (too big for the mouth), and play clothes in a big bin that they could either sit and play in or construct with at will.

Just random ideas off the top of my head.

Is he verbal? In my son's case, he got better about not sticking stuff where it didn't belong as he got more verbal...he was super obsessed with trying to eat crayons whenever he was working on a new word...it has been very slow progress but it helps knowing that it does get better.

[countrymom]

well my dd use to eat all the top parts of the markers, her tongue was so multicolored and so were her poops. Its a faze that stinks.

also short and sweet, my littles know "paper only" I tell them over and over. And the other kids will say "paper only"

don't worry it doesn't last long.

[MotherNature]

I was going to suggest the colour wonder stuff as well. One drawback-it's pricey.

[melskids]

I would give him exactly what it is he is seeking.

[SilverSabre25]

He sounds like a sensory seeking kid to me. Maybe sensory bins would be a better option for now? Allowing him to dig in colored rice, or beans?

He does sound very sensory seeking here, yes. This is also the one that will sit and push a button over and over and over and over and over until I notice him doing it and redirect. Heck right as I type this he's pushing the lever on the toy toaster repeatedly. He has been since I started typing. He's not seeking in more typical (well, for sensory seeking anway, ) ways, I'm used to sensory seekers doing a lot of body slamming and crashing into things. but orally? Absolutely. Without a "thing" to put in his mouth, it's his fingers. constantly.

HOWEVER

he doesn't eat very fast. He is very slow to eat. painfully slow to eat. He eats pretty well, but seems to half-expect to be fed (which he might get at home? I'm not sure, divorced parents, cultural divide between dad and mom).

[SilverSabre25]

Verbally....well, he's reasonably verbal, expressively. Receptive does seem to lag a bit, either that or he's just hellishly stubborn and won't do what he doesn't want to. I honestly can't tell with this one. He has this LOOK he gives when he's redirected, assuming he doesn't just throw a full-blown tantrum.

[SilverSabre25]

We do plenty of other sensory play, sure, but he's the FIRST one to be dumping it outside the box or putting the spoons in his mouth, etc. Water play he sits there deliberately dribbling it down his front or on his pants. Then he howls.

Edible sensory play is a good idea.

And I like the full-body idea, too. But it needs to warm up first!!!

He is also really really bad about things he shouldn't have. Every day it's a cycle of going after anything he can find that isn't a toy or isn't a toy that belongs in the daycare room, or an object that belongs in the daycare room. Gate to the room is open? He's the first one wanting to go anywhere he isn't supposed to. He's only recently started to play, after many months of just....not.

[Angelsj]

He does sound very sensory seeking here, yes. This is also the one that will sit and push a button over and over and over and over and over until I notice him doing it and redirect. Heck right as I type this he's pushing the lever on the toy toaster repeatedly. He has been since I started typing. He's not seeking in more typical (well, for sensory seeking anway, ) ways, I'm used to sensory seekers doing a lot of body slamming and crashing into things. but orally? Absolutely. Without a "thing" to put in his mouth, it's his fingers. constantly.

HOWEVER

he doesn't eat very fast. He is very slow to eat. painfully slow to eat. He eats pretty well, but seems to half-expect to be fed (which he might get at home? I'm not sure, divorced parents, cultural divide between dad and mom).

My youngest dd is orally sensory seeking. At 12, she still constantly has something in her mouth. Pencil tops, gum, pieces of plastic, just about anything she can chew. There are chewy toys you can supply for this.