Art for toddlers – How to avoid a disaster!

10:29 pm in Art for Toddlers by Sonya

Before my boys were born I imagined spending sunny afternoons in the backyard with my beautiful, well behaved children, painting, glueing, cutting, drawing and creating these amazing masterpieces.....

Well for any of you who have tried art for toddlers know that this vision quickly vanished within the first 30 seconds of my children reaching the paint pots!!!
However having an artist as a mother (plug for mum Mudpaitings) I was brought up with art/craft in my life and think it's a wonderful outlet for all children, so I was determine to bring to life my original vision in some form. Through many failed attempts I have developed some pretty fail proof steps to make Art for toddlers a pleasurable experience for all.

1) Plan ahead

It's really important to know what you are going to do with them and prepare what you need ahead of time. By this I mean don't sit them down at the table then stand around and think about what you are going to do with them, you would have already lost their interest and by the time you get the stuff out they are over it.

2) Set up designated area while Toddlers are distracted

I like to distract my toddlers with something else while I set up like morning tea. Otherwise I have too many "helpers". I try to mostly do art/craft outside with drop sheet down.

3) Cater for all kids

Make sure you have enough equipment for all kids so there is no fighting over brushes/glue sticks etc. set them out in a way each kid can easily access them.

4) Make sure wash cloths are prepared and close by

I like to have my clean up tools - wash cloths/buckets prepared before we begin and have them easily accessible as you never know when the activity is going to end

5) keep low expecatations

What I mean by this is don't think your children are going to sit there for a long time creating a master piece. In my experience the maximum time with children under 5 is 10 minutes. This however depends on your child. Archie my 3 year old could probably last 30minutes but with his 1 year old brother around it seems the limit is 10 minute  some days we only get 5 minutes.

6) clean messy stuff first.

Clean up can often be where things come "unstuck" as some kids may still be trying to create and others are running around with a loaded paint brush. I guess my tips here is remove the things that cause the greatest mess first ie. the paints/glue then the messy hands then once you have the kids engaged in their next activity you can go back and clean the rest of the stuff.

I hope these few tips help you and your toddler enjoy the fantastic world of creating. Keep an eye out as I add more post with some great Art for toddler ideas!! In the meantime check out this fantastic blog Pink and Green Mama

Sonya

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