According to some experts, crafts go along with healthy foods, sleep routines, potty training and reading as some of the most important elements in your child’s development. These same experts maintain that crafts help to foster creativity and imagination. I have to agree! They also give kids a sense of accomplishment and can lead to lifelong hobbies. In a perfect world, they can even provide the parents with a few minutes of peace and quiet.
However, what about messy crafts such as paint, glitter, sand, and other activities? Are you strong enough to deal with the lasting effects (and believe me, they can be LONG lasting) or are you a “stay clean and avoid the mess” parent?
Several years ago I hosted a Christmas cookie decorating party in my home. I invited 12 little kids – ranging in age from 2 to 4. Ahead of time I knew it would just trash the house, so I was mentally prepared. We set up kid sized tables in the dining room and just let them go at it. Ironically, it wasn’t too much of a mess until my son decided to carry a paper plate full of nonpariels into the kitchen. Of course the plate buckled and they went all over.
Nostalgically, 3 years later, I still run across the odd one caught between the floorboards.
Interested in whether the fear of “messy crafts” was consistent among parents I recently spoke to a few other parents who had had their run-ins with messy crafts about whether they were worth it and would they do it again?
One parent did an art project for her son’s class (3-5 year olds). It was called “race car art.” They took hot wheels cars, dip them in washable paint and race them along the paper to make art. Apparently the kids loved it, especially the boys. The cleanup was exhausting because it was SO MESSY! The art came out great. She determined it was worth it, but I wonder if she would volunteer such an activity in her home?
One parent exclaimed how she used glitter for the first volunteer project and NEVER AGAIN! It was worth it for the kids but in hindsight, she would have made more rules for the kids. The boys went a bit too nuts.
I also had a bad experience with glitter with our kid’s cooperative preschool. It was my day to clean and it took 2 hours to even get up enough of the glitter to make it look like I had done my job. At an average age of 3, I doubt the craft results were even really worth it, but I’m cynical.
One parent had this great story: “I went to a birthday party once for an extremely well behaved two year old. The hostess included a craft project for all the kids involving billions of small, choking hazards. I still can’t remember what it entailed, because I spent the entire time trying to keep my almost feral two year old from choking on everything when she wasn’t dumping all the plates of bitty things we were supposed to be crafting. Again, I can’t remember what the project or the parts were. I remember the floor of the house and trying to track down all the bitty parts while my daughter dumped another plate of them. I was happy and accomplished by not being required to call 911 before we left. I’m pretty sure we left with thousands of those bitty parts still on the floor.”
I’m guessing that experience wasn’t worth it. But it definitely makes for the memories!
One wonderful thing about kids is that they make you look at art products in a totally different way. Who would have thought about what stickers stick to and how horrendous they can be to remove on certain surfaces. Oh well, the joys of parenthood and crafting…it’s never boring!
