One of the things that I love about Donovan’s daycare is that it’s not run like a daycare. It’s more like school, with lots of activities geared towards developing fine motor skills, language (including sign language) and a ton of art projects. And they document EVERYTHING. They are always sending home their projects with pictures of them doing the project, which is fun to see them in the process.
This happened to be the day they were playing with shaving cream…..
A couple weeks ago they had parent/teacher conferences–I know, it might seem ridiculous to have a meeting with his teachers, but it’s nice to hear how he is doing socially with the other kids (the biting has stopped), how he’s developing right on track with his language and motor skills (his vocabulary is increasing like crazy), and we found out that he LOVES doing art projects. I was both happy and sad to hear this. Sad because why didn’t I already know this?! The pangs of mommy guilt set in quick–I didn’t know this already because I’m at work all day and he is spending his days at daycare. Sure, on weekends, we color but half the time he seemed more interested in putting the pens, crayons, etc in his mouth… But I was happy to hear that he loved it so much. We were told he is always the first one to the table and the last to leave.
This got me thinking about more artsy-type things we can do this winter when the weather is too cold to be outside. But I need some help, readers. I was never into art projects and am having trouble thinking of things to do. One idea I have is getting some paints and blank canvases and just letting him go to town. But besides that, I’m kind of stumped. If you have kids, what kind of stuff do/did you do with them that they enjoyed?
October 7, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Ok I just sent you an invite to Pinterest, I think you’ll love it. There are tons of cool ideas for kids on there. Here are some I’ve “pinned”
http://pinterest.com/lifeincolor/crafting-with-and-for-kids/
October 10, 2011 at 5:59 am
Oh my goodness…there is a whole world of kids crafts out there you need to try! As you know, my kiddos are HUGE into crafting, painting, drawing…pretty much anything they can do to be creative.
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Like Amber said, there are a TON of ideas on Pinterest (we’ve done several ideas that I’ve found on there)! Also, check out Familyfun.com. Some of their stuff is a little cheesier, but fun for younger kiddos.
Some of my kids favorite activities (and I really don’t use age as a guideline…just go by how I feel they can handle things) are:
Puffy paint: http://melissagoodsell.typepad.com/day_to_day/2008/01/holiday-activit.html#comment-6a00d83451d02f69e2013483f498e9970c
Crayon ‘making:’ http://turnerfamilyx4.blogspot.com/2009/09/rainy-day-fun.html
Anything they can use handprints, feet prints, finger prints, etc (there are some fun books out there that show you how to make different pictures from your finger prints).
And, of course just good ol’ drawing! We just get out the paints and our roll of paper or construction paper (make sure you have lots of this on hand!) and they just get to it, lol! It can be messy but sure is fun and most importantly we are making memories.
And, remember cooking is one of the best ways to be creative! We make cookies, jello shapes, marshmallows, candies, and all kids of fun seasonal/holiday stuff.