A No Toy Week??

[kendallina]

I love the idea of all of the recyclable "loose part" materials. I love that the children will be able to have containers for climbing, pulling, hiding, seeking, building, and simply using their imaginations. I love the idea of art always being available to the children.

Now, I don't have "no toys" but I do not have any battery operated toys, and I have LOTS of the elements that you describe. I offer lots of loose parts....boxes, fabric pieces, tubes, planks, rocks, piecs of wood and bark, pine cones, etc. We also have art available to the children at all times and much of it is readily accessible, to all of the children, from a young age. The easel is typically set up and available for use, and we always have glue/collage materials, markers, crayons, colored pencils, drawing paper, etc. within reach for the children to use when they choose. I have found that having it accessible and teaching them proper usage for materials from a young age allows them to be self-sufficient with the materials by the time they are about two years old. It takes a little extra patience and guidance when they are little, mostly redirection, but I find it is well-worth the extra effort, as they are allowed to expore materials in depth at will they become very creative and I never have to do CRAFT type activites....they create beautiful pieces of art, without any direction from me, and they elarn to manage the materials and clean up after themselves. In the end, there is alot less work for me involved.

Have fun with your experiment....I hope (and trust) you find it truly engaging and inspiring!

Crystal, one of the most frustrating things about my current set-up is that I cannot have 'messy' art things available to the children all the time. When I worked in a center I had messy art (glue, paints, markers, etc) available to them all the time, but right now my playroom is in a carpeted bedroom. So, we do messy stuff everyday in my kitchen, but they're not able to freely pick and choose the materials they want, use them exactly how they want, and for as long as they want. So, that's a little frustrating. Completely off-topic and really just a small vent on my part. I'm really wishing I had a different set-up when I hear about how the children are able to have access to all of this at your place.

[Crystal]

I hear ya. Before I moved to this house, everything was carpeted. This house is ALL tile, with area rugs separating my play spaces. So I don't have to worry about the mess so much.

One thing I did when I had all carpeted space was put tape down shower curtains under the easels and messy areas. I also used (and still use) my dining space for some art and I have a rolling cart that contains many open ended art materials. I just roll it in near the dining table and let the children choose what they want and create whatever they want.

You keep on doing what you're doing. Your idea is AWESOME! I am INSPIRED by what you are attempting and am anxious to hear all about your's and the children's experiences!

[Lianne]

I have laminate wood floors but I still didn't want the art mess getting on my floors. I bought a scrap of linoleum from Home Depot, about 5x6 and laid it on top of my wood floor, under the art table/easel.

[nannyde]

I love the idea of all of the recyclable "loose part" materials. I love that the children will be able to have containers for climbing, pulling, hiding, seeking, building, and simply using their imaginations. I love the idea of art always being available to the children.

Now, I don't have "no toys" but I do not have any battery operated toys, and I have LOTS of the elements that you describe. I offer lots of loose parts....boxes, fabric pieces, tubes, planks, rocks, piecs of wood and bark, pine cones, etc. We also have art available to the children at all times and much of it is readily accessible, to all of the children, from a young age. The easel is typically set up and available for use, and we always have glue/collage materials, markers, crayons, colored pencils, drawing paper, etc. within reach for the children to use when they choose. I have found that having it accessible and teaching them proper usage for materials from a young age allows them to be self-sufficient with the materials by the time they are about two years old. It takes a little extra patience and guidance when they are little, mostly redirection, but I find it is well-worth the extra effort, as they are allowed to expore materials in depth at will they become very creative and I never have to do CRAFT type activites....they create beautiful pieces of art, without any direction from me, and they elarn to manage the materials and clean up after themselves. In the end, there is alot less work for me involved.

When you say you have your easel set up does that mean with paint and brushes available at all times? Are your kids able to paint with these art projects at will and with little adult involvement as early as a new two year old? What about glitter, and small things like googly eyes, beads. beans ... stuff that is small.

From the list you gave yes that woud be very easy to manage: As long as the glue was supervised .. using collage materials, markers, crayons, colored pencils, drawing paper, boxes, fabric pieces, tubes, planks, rocks, piecs of wood and bark, pine cones, etc would be pretty easy.

[SunflowerMama]

I informed my parents on Friday that we'll be doing this the week before Christmas (20th - 23rd) and they are super excited!!

I'm going to gradually start pulling toys from now until then and adding more open ended items. Then that week before Christmas we'll be completely "toy" free.

I'm so excited to try this and think like pp said there will be toys that after this activity will not make it back into the mix .

[Crystal]

When you say you have your easel set up does that mean with paint and brushes available at all times? Are your kids able to paint with these art projects at will and with little adult involvement as early as a new two year old? What about glitter, and small things like googly eyes, beads. beans ... stuff that is small.

From the list you gave yes that woud be very easy to manage: As long as the glue was supervised .. using collage materials, markers, crayons, colored pencils, drawing paper, boxes, fabric pieces, tubes, planks, rocks, piecs of wood and bark, pine cones, etc would be pretty easy.

Yes, the easel is set up, most of the time, with paint and brushes available for use. We just facilitate it by dding paper and paint as needed, and yes, at two they can go to the easel and paint when they want. The little stuff, like beads, buttons, etc. are on the higher parts of shelves and the bigger kids can get them down on their own....they use them at the bigger table so the little kids don't get it without adult supervision.

I do very little supervision of the glue. I am in the room and if there is an issue, a child will let me know, but they all can handle the glue. For the glue dumpers, I have glue colored with liquid watercolor and and stiff pieces of cardboard so they can use as much glue as they want. Sure, sometimes it spills over, but I don't mind. And, yes, the collage, drawing, etc. is pretty easy. I don't really do complicated artwork....no "crafts" at all....everything is open-ended and the children create as they wish. I rotate materials so they always have a variety of options.

[SunflowerMama]

I also used (and still use) my dining space for some art and I have a rolling cart that contains many open ended art materials. I just roll it in near the dining table and let the children choose what they want and create whatever they want.

Do you by chance have a picture of your cart and the materials you leave accessible to the kids throughout the day. I would love to do this too but am just worried about a few aspects. I think if I could get an idea of the materials you are leaving out that might help. I'm ok with my whole group (all over 3) except one LO that is 15 months.

[Crystal]

I'll post a pic for you later today

[melskids]

i also have open ended art just like crystal, and it is available all the time to anyone over 2. it is messy at times, but worth all the effort. they learn from an early age how to handle the materials, and honestly, its not as bad or chaotic as you may think. smaller items are up a little higher for the older kids, the young two's do require a little more supervision. and they even know how to mop up spills themselves now.

just last week i set out about 15 rolls of different colored masking tape just to see what they would do with it. some taped cardboard together, some taped each other together, , but a few actually cut it in little pieces and made really neat abstract designs on paper.

this week i hot glued cardboard boxes together to form a HUGE gingerbread house, put out paint and all the collage stuff, and plan on letting them go to town decorating it. so far today, it's been painted brown, and thats as far as they got. we'll see what happens!!!