Arts & Crafts

I've never been a crafty type of girl. I've always hoped that I could turn into it...but when I go to actually create something it never turns out like I want. Well my kiddo must take after me a bit because she loves arts and crafts. We knew that pretty early on. I was always hesitant to start anything with her and made many excuses not to: the house is for sale and I don't want to clean up the mess, oh - she isn't old enough for that, etc. Although, after watching/hearing how much she loves it at her daycare I had to try it at home. We did small things at first when she was a year old. I made home made flour playdough (although there are many kinds you can make at home where if they eat it, it isn't as big of a deal - not that I think that's ok =)). Next I took construction paper and had her glue the cut up pieces to paper making a sort of collage. We did this for awhile in addition to coloring and playing with stickers (she's a sticker queen), but I knew she needed more - paint. I've never seen a kid paint like her. She's so careful and precise with her movements...and she loves it and wants to do it often. In fact, this morning she cleared off her activity table and demanded to paint. Now the reason I was hesitant to start this was obviously due to the mess. Last week when she was home sick with us, we had to entertain her somehow so we took out the finger paints. And so began the regular paintings in my house. To my surprise it isn't messy. You would think finger painting would be, right? I just put a smock on her and we're ready to go. She's very careful not to get it everywhere and has a lot of fun. So my lesson learned here is that don't be afraid of arts and crafts. Kids can really start at any age and it teaches them more than you think. Think about it - colors, to listen, textures, etc. It is an amazing way to learn! So go out and have fun with it! We sure are!!