Facilitating Crafts With A Mixed-Age Group

[SilverSabre25]

How do you manage doing crafts/other activities with a group that includes kiddos that are too young to really "get" or do the craft/activity, but are NOT thrilled with not participating?

*today's example: 3 yo, 2.5 yo, 24 mo, and 15 mo. We did an activity where they tore up red and pink construction paper into tiny pieces, then later we painted glue onto the outline of a heart and glued the torn pieces of paper to the heart. I kept the 15 month otherwise occupied during the tearing this morning, but did NOT successfully keep her occupied during the second phase this afternoon--she knew that the others were doing something different from her. I let her have some of the paper scraps and a heart, and tried to help her put the glue on but it was an unqualified disaster. She could not understand what we were doing, wanted to play in the glue, got mad when I tried to help her, got mad when I took it away...ugh, it was awful. Fun for the others (3 yo did the best, 2.5 needs a LOT of fine motor practice, and 24 mo prefers to destroy everyone's work including her own, but they enjoyed it--with help and coaching). but not fun for me, and not fun for the littlest. *sigh* Now I know why I have done barely any arts/crafts stuff with them.

[ammama]

I use to include my DD when she was that age (12-18 mo's), and would just mix up flour and water for her glue. She would eat it, smear it on the highchair, sometimes stick it to the paper, eat the paper, whatever. I never worried too much about the mess I wouldn't put her at the table with the older kids, as she would try and grab at their work, but she was always happy enough. If there were small pieces of crafty stuff that I was worried she would choke on, I just wouldn't give that to her.

[daycare]

i do my activities like the one you did when my 19 month old is i9n a morning nap. Does your 15 month old still take 2 naps?

I also put the 19m in the high chair and let them do a different project. I use pudding as fingerpaints and they love it... messy, but fun...

[SilverSabre25]

i do my activities like the one you did when my 19 month old is i9n a morning nap. Does your 15 month old still take 2 naps?

I also put the 19m in the high chair and let them do a different project. I use pudding as fingerpaints and they love it... messy, but fun...

Nope, only one nap. I tried to get her doing something else but she is a canny little thing and knew darn well that she had different materials.

The flour/water for glue isn't a bad idea...I'll have to remember that one.

[daycare]

Nope, only one nap. I tried to get her doing something else but she is a canny little thing and knew darn well that she had different materials.

The flour/water for glue isn't a bad idea...I'll have to remember that one.

ahh ha head strong one huh..... gotta love those ones, they will be leaders one day..

I think that if you tried it out, they would love it...see how it goes, the flour thing does sound really cool....

[heyhun77]

I do more open-ended art projects than "crafts". Set out supplies and let them use their imagination for what they would like to do with them. You can provide some direction within opened-ended projects like giving them a certain shape or colors to work with to reinforce things you are learning that month but otherwise let them use their noggins to see what comes out onto paper/projects. For the project you described I that kind of thing a lot since I have a few 2 and ups that need more fine motor experiences so I have all kids tear the paper in the sensory table or use scissors in the sensory table with the paper and then we bring the torn paper to the table. The older kids use glue the younger kids I tape down contact paper onto the table and they put on their torn paper then you can either put paper behind it or another layer of contact paper to make a suncatcher for the window.

Sometimes it's timing. I tend to set out the art supplies for the special project as a station at the same times as our other independant learning stations for learning time. That being said, I have a shelf with art supplies available at all times so the stuff I bring out for special projects is usually paint rollers, texture painting, themed projects, etc. They have an art wall with paints out all the time, markers, crayons, pencils, glue, paper, magazines, and misc. envelopes/notepads, etc. out all the time.

[momma2girls]

I do more open-ended art projects than "crafts". Set out supplies and let them use their imagination for what they would like to do with them. You can provide some direction within opened-ended projects like giving them a certain shape or colors to work with to reinforce things you are learning that month but otherwise let them use their noggins to see what comes out onto paper/projects. For the project you described I that kind of thing a lot since I have a few 2 and ups that need more fine motor experiences so I have all kids tear the paper in the sensory table or use scissors in the sensory table with the paper and then we bring the torn paper to the table. The older kids use glue the younger kids I tape down contact paper onto the table and they put on their torn paper then you can either put paper behind it or another layer of contact paper to make a suncatcher for the window.

Sometimes it's timing. I tend to set out the art supplies for the special project as a station at the same times as our other independant learning stations for learning time. That being said, I have a shelf with art supplies available at all times so the stuff I bring out for special projects is usually paint rollers, texture painting, themed projects, etc. They have an art wall with paints out all the time, markers, crayons, pencils, glue, paper, magazines, and misc. envelopes/notepads, etc. out all the time.

I actually start craft projects at age 2 1/2. If I see eating, or? going on at that age, then I wait til 3, like a preschool