Crafting with the Kidlets

One of the things Rob and I discussed adding to our interactions with the kids are crafts. It’s not something that’s currently in our comfort zone and honestly, not something I can seem to come up with on my own. I planned on going to the craft store and buying a bunch of stuff to really get into it. Most especially kid safe scissors as Ari is really into scissors and cutting.

So, being me, I researched on line what these pre-school craft projects would be. I figured I might as well get a good idea as to what crafting is and what would be fun to do and finally what I need to have on hand to do it. And after raising my eyebrow at some sites and rolling my eyes at the complexities of others, I came across the DIY Preschool Blog written by Brooklynite Leslie Kaufman. It eerily elaborated my exact sentiments towards crafting.

Crafts for Preschoolers

Two words: They suck.

Forgive the harsh language, but I really find most crafts for preschool-age children not just gag-inducing, but developmentally questionable.

Whether it's making little bugs out of pipe cleaners and egg cartons, gluing cotton balls on Santa's beard, or adding decorations to a cut-out animal, preschool crafts always seem to be about nudging children to mimic or embellish something an adult has made.

Even in the most non-judgmental, non-pressured settings, such projects are more about competency -- the ability to place those cotton balls in just the right place -- than they are about creativity. They're often either so easy and unimaginative that they amount to dreary busy work for wee ones, or else require children to do things that are well above their skill level (meaning lots of "help" from adults).

Oh, and the projects are usually really lame.

Don't get me wrong: I love doing crafts. I made all kinds of wacky jewelry in my 20s, created elaborate scrapbooks in my 30s, and now enjoy unwinding in the evening by making altered clothes for my kids.

I just don't think there are many crafts that are appropriate for two-, three-, and four-year-old kids. (Readers, feel free to weigh in -- and, by all means, share any ideas you have for non-sucky, genuinely creative little-kid crafts.)

Kids in this age group are better off doing art instead of crafts: open-ended creation, in which there is no model to copy or modify, no right or wrong. They need lots of time and space to explore different materials and media, scribble and smear, combine and remix, generally mess around -- and use their own imagination to describe what they are creating.

There will be plenty of time, later, for cute creations, if your child is interested in such things. In early childhood, it strikes me as more important to nurture the sense of open-ended exploration that art provides.

And that’s the thing. I was a crafty adolescent/pre-teen/teen. I did a bunch of stuff, made all sorts of concoctions and enjoyed every last minute of it. My hang up is in age appropriate crafts and guess what – I agree with her ideology that kids would be better off doing art at this age. And of course this led me to read every last page of her blog. She seems to have abandoned blogging or has taken a hiatus from it, much to my dismay. But I’m grateful that she blogged at all, because although I’m not as pro home schooling as she is, I adopt many of her philosophies.

So much of what she said spoke to me and I have an undying need to share the information. In a post entitled Trying to hard she spoke of her realization, in her attempt to teach, that she was trying to do something her kids were generally not ready for and discussed coming to terms with the pace of learning your kids are ready for. Another of her more poignant posts was entitled ‘Holding Back: Toys, Drawings and Other Adult Temptations” she pointed me towards a book I feel I want to read - Summerhill, A.S. Neill.

I was beginning to think about how I wanted to educate my own children, one passage in particular jumped out at me, in which the irascible A.S. Neill a offered some excellent advice: Never show a child how to play with a toy.

Never show a child how to play with a toy: It made immediate, perfect sense to me. "Teaching" a child how to use a toy robs the child of the joy, excitement, and challenge of discovery

I’m coming to realize in my discovery how much control I try to put in the situations I find myself in with my children. I really feel like I’m limiting their ability to expand their creativity. I will admit that as a child, I had this unlimited freedom to draw and doodle and play and dream up my own worlds and that I never had limitations in any of them. Well except for writing on walls – I got an earful for doing that. But I had my own space in the house where I was able do what I pleased without being told I couldn’t do that or I should do such and such like this. My kids need that. Balancing this freedom mentality with a more structured kind of mentality is a battle. I want to set limitations while simultaneously providing the liberty to expand freedom of thought and choice and being.

But I digress. I’ve decided to forgo structured crafts. I’ve made a list for the craft store that is random and messy. Construction paper, poster board, glitter, paint, brushes, glue, stamps, googly eyes, etc. I need to invest in some painters’ canvas drop cloth to stave of the cleanup nazi of my husband or at the very least allow for an easier clean up. And I’m going to let my kids create whatever it is they want to create and let them tell me what it is. We’ll start there. Maybe we’ll bake and decorate cookies on another day. Something I myself have never done so it will be an adventure. Let there be no limits – if only for an hour or 2 daily.