Why Typical Preschool Crafts Are a Total Waste of Time

[Tanaqui]

Interesting read.

 

Because there’s another big reason why these preschool crafts have persisted: The resulting creation becomes a handy way for busy parents to quickly get a sense of what their kid did in school all day – and it’s an equally handy way for teachers to demonstrate what their charges did in school all day. “Teachers know that they are judged — as most Americans are — by what they produce,†Christakis writes. “It’s a lot easier to say ‘Here’s the construction paper jack-o’-lantern we made today’ than ‘I’ve noticed that Michael is really excited by what happens when he mixes blue and yellow paint.’â€

[Arcadia]

To me preschool crafts are for my kids to make a wonderful mess for arts and for social studies in their classrooms in B&M schools instead of at home. Preschool teachers locally are judged by the worksheets kids bring home. My oldest attended a two afternoon per week preschool and brought home language arts and math worksheets.

 

My kids kept their crafts from school and were always happy about them. If the crafts make kids happy and kids had fun "bragging" to their parents at pickup time, then crafts are not total waste.

 

My oldest is bad with scissors. His teachers helped with some of the cutting.

[Bluegoat]

I'm not unsympathetic to this POV, I think it is nice, even necessary, for young kids to have time to mess around.

 

But I also think that maybe there is a bit of idealization of "creativity" as being the main point in any artistic pursuit that underlies some of the thinking.

 

I was not a kid that especially enjoyed crafts when I was small, but I don't think they are valuless.  They can provide practice for fine motor skills, things like cutting and tracing.  They are a task that has to be done in order following direction.  And they produce something at the end as a culmination of little staps, which some kids seem to really enjoy.  And then, when they go to "mess around" they have some techniques available to them, like cutting along a line, that they perhaps didn't before.

 

And there are some kids who seem to become quite frustrated when there is complete freedom - they want to know how to do something that leads somewhere. Some kids love crafts, just like some adults do.  (There must be a reason those painting parties where everyone makes a similar painting are so popular right now.)

 

Toddlers are still little, but I am  a little critical about this idea some have children's art more generally that it is all about self-expression.  Learning technique is also important, and often won't be a creative task in itself.  In fact I think a lot of kids give up on the visual arts because they find their technique isn't adequate to express their vision, and they can't see how to get there.  People who can draw just seem to be people who lucked out in the talent department.  There is a reason that teaching technique has often been done by proscribed exercises and copying the work of others - it's an effective way to do it.

 

It might be too much to link this with toddler activities, but I guess I just feel like the underlying assumptions about creativity are a little over-blown.

 

 

Edited April 27, 2016 by Bluegoat

[HomeAgain]

I agree and disagree. LOL  We do preschool crafts here, yes, with a focus on the output, but the steps are all designed to build skills.  For example, I had the children make spiders on webs the other week.  The goal was to do just that: precut circle bodies/heads and paper strips for legs.  The skills we worked on during that time were pre-cursive(learning to make 'swoops' as part of our web), and folding small objects (zigzag fold to make the legs), and glue placement. 

There is a time for free creative art and there is a time for skill building craft.  It's when we confuse and merge the two that our priorities get muddled. 

[Carrie12345]

I put my son in one class (an hour of play, story, then craft) last year, and two this year (same one plus one entirely devoted to preK-K crafts) because he thinks it's the greatest thing in the whole wide world.  I don't consider a single second of it wasted!

[rwilk]

DD is currently in a weekly arts class that is really process focused.  They start each session with an explanation of how to use the materials (clay, water color, pastels), how to mix colors, or whatever it is that day.  Then the kids just go for it.  The results are......interesting to say the least. The teacher will go around the room asking the kids to talk about what they are doing/making, and providing help if requested. 

 

It's also a parent/child class, so that each kid has an adult right there to assist if there's a need.  DD loves the class, and while the results are certainly less traditionally cute than the typical preschool craft, they are fully hers. She also can talk a lot about art now, and has a great respect for the materials and different things you can do with them.

[angela in ohio]

This quote is a part of the reason we started homeschooling. :D

 

I skipped all the Pinterest and blog crafts (I don't think there was Pinterest back then, but you know what I mean :D) and did Doing Art Together which is process-based. We literally spent weeks mixing two colors of paint on paper triangles. :D

[Bluegoat]

DD is currently in a weekly arts class that is really process focused.  They start each session with an explanation of how to use the materials (clay, water color, pastels), how to mix colors, or whatever it is that day.  Then the kids just go for it.  The results are......interesting to say the least. The teacher will go around the room asking the kids to talk about what they are doing/making, and providing help if requested. 

 

It's also a parent/child class, so that each kid has an adult right there to assist if there's a need.  DD loves the class, and while the results are certainly less traditionally cute than the typical preschool craft, they are fully hers. She also can talk a lot about art now, and has a great respect for the materials and different things you can do with them.

 

I've done art classes as a child that started out similarly, but often the project itself wasn't totally free-form.  Making masks for example, or looking at works by a particular artist and using that as a starting place.  Sometimes things like still-lives, where everyone is working from the same objects. 

 

Many of the classes I've done as an adult are very exercise based.

 

Some of the greatest artists were trained specifically by copying, especially at the beginning.

 

I'd have said that projects like this do look at process, but not exclusively.  And for toddlers, I am not sure that the process in the crafts isn't actually the emphasis.  Sure, you all get a turkey at the end, but is that really the point of the thing?

[vonfirmath]

My daughter is in prek currently. She is thrilled to have something in her backpack to hand me. I don't ask her "What did you make today?"  She pulls it out of her backpack and pushes it into my hands with a delighted "I made this for you" -- often it is completely unrecognizeable.  (OTOH I DO ask "what did you learn today?" and she can't often answer that either. SOmetimes her teacher writes a phrase on the page such as "4 seasons"  and that seems to help a lot when I can ask "What do you know about the 4 seasons"  or "Tell me something about Ninja Red Riding Hood")

 

Edited April 27, 2016 by vonfirmath

[G5052]

I don't think they're a waste at all.

 

They teach focus, following directions, and skills.

[Wheres Toto]

I always thought the crafts that came home from school showed too much teacher involvement.  I knew there was no way my kid did even most of it. 

 

My younger two at home don't like to follow the way things are "supposed" to be done with crafts.  I did other things to teach them to follow instructions, when it was supposed to be a fun craft I let them do it how they wanted.  My MIL used to hate it and try to get them to do it "right".   She used to buy those pre-cut kits and they would still do it their own way.  :lol:

 

 

[SKL]

I'm so glad someone finally said it.  I honestly found those crafts annoying.  When my kids were tots, we had a full-time nanny who was also a commercial artist, and I figured she would give them some more meaningful art "experiences," but nope.  She would design these projects that involved little or no thought or effort from the child, and she would show them to me and expect me to get all excited.  I mean smearing poo oatmeal would have been more stimulating for the child.  :P  Then in preschool they would do the same standard things over and over - I received dozens of "how cute are my little handprints" projects.  Oh yay!

 

I suppose I sound like Tiger Mom hating on her kid's birthday card....

[Dmmetler]

We still have a huge stack of preschool craft projects on top of the refrigerator. DD is 11...

[EKT]

I am definitely of the mindset that "it's about the process, not the product." (All of Maryann Kohl's early childhood art books are of this philosophy and I think she is right-on.) At the same time, however, I think there is real merit in doing projects that require the following of instructions. I do this in my real life all the time. For instance, I sew and I knit, so I constantly follow sewing and knitting patterns. When I want to sew a dress for one or other of my daughters, I cut out the pattern and I need to follow all the steps, in order, to achieve the desired result. (My unique creative part in that process is choosing fabrics, trims, and making my own alterations to the pattern, etc., but still...the need to follow the basic directions is essential.) Likewise, my husband loves to build computers and last year, he built the girls a picnic table from scratch. As you might guess, he had to follow step-by-step plans to build the table. And so on.... So, while I think it is definitely silly and a waste of time to force a small child to make a cotton ball snowman she didn't initiate and doesn't care about, I think pattern-based creative projects have value. My girls ask me all the time to help them follow a cross stitch, knitting, or sewing pattern and they are learning real skills and discipline and focus in the process. So, when the child initiates the project, I think a project that necessitates following directions is obviously very useful. (And of course all of this applies to recipes/baking/cooking as well--another life skill.) But, my house is a very creative atmosphere in general (my husband and I are just really into making stuff), so we never have to invent creative projects for our kids; they're just always doing them on their own, naturally.

 

Additionally, I'll add that I always thought the main point of making little kids do crafts was to strengthen their fine motor skills in the name of learning to write. (That is, I always thought the true purpose of cutting, pasting, and coloring was to strengthen kids' fingers so they are soon able to hold a pencil properly and eventually transition from crafts to writing....) So, I think there is legitimate merit in that aspect, as well. 

Edited April 27, 2016 by EKT

[SKL]

I agree that it's useful for kids to learn to follow directions, strengthen their small-muscle skills, talk about their creation, etc.  But the reality is that often the child is not engaged enough to really benefit.  I would rather have the child "create" something completely unrecognizable and disposable (or re-usable) than to be expected to hang the teacher's handiwork on my fridge.  Yes, I am crabby.

 

When my kids were little, I set them up to draw / paint on surfaces and then I would wash them off so they could do it again.  I don't see keeping tot art for "posterity" unless the child is a true prodigy.

 

As for cutting, let the kid rip or cut and who cares if they chop the head or arms off etc?  Either using scissors is a worthwhile skill or it isn't.

[Bluegoat]

It's hard with a whole class of kids though, to find something that everyone will like.

[Tsuga]

I think the author totally missed the actual point of those projects, which are fine motor skills, following directions, and tactile experiences.

 

It's not meant to be a creativity-building activity...

 

My kids did free art as well as crafts, and they also did a lot of pure play, like just playing with the media like cotton balls, sand, paint, non-Newtonian fluids, etc.

 

I got them about twice a week, and considering that the children spent a good 20 hours in the classroom (4 hours per day, 5 days a week), that is not a ton of time spent on following directions and working with scissors.

 

And none of my kids' crafts showed much teacher involvement, LOL.  

 

We just kept them on the fridge for the week then recycled. They had fun.

[Tsuga]

We still have a huge stack of preschool craft projects on top of the refrigerator. DD is 11...

 

If you're looking for a way to declutter: Take pictures of them, frame ONE original of her choice for a future child's nursery, and then recycle guilt-free.

 

OTOH maybe they are helping insulate the freezer.

[Farrar]

I'm really surprised so many people like them so much. Huh.

 

I feel like used occasionally they're fine. It's that the balance is off. Occasionally doing something for the end product is great, but the focus should be process, and that's something lacking in a lot of preschools.

[Runningmom80]

My kids go to a Montessori school, and they bring home very little work, maybe 3 projects a year, and I think it's just to appease some of the parents who miss the normal preschool art projects.  They bring home a big roll of papers from the art easel at the end of the year that are completely their own creations, and it's so fun when they explain what they painted.  DD usually says "I just liked those colors."

 

 

[Farrar]

This is, by the way, the language that I learned to use when I was working in Quaker schools - product vs. process. Both have their place, but it's an incredibly useful lens for a lot of education thinking. It's like, okay, is the goal for this group play theater games and get better at acting and more comfortable speaking and being in front of a crowd or is the goal to put on a polished performance? Both have merits. Kids learn different things from each. And in schooling, where do you want your focus to be in teaching and learning? And if you want it to be on process, then it helps you let go of things like needing every writing to be polished or needing every history timeline to come out looking pretty or every science experiment to get written up.

 

I hear a lot of talk about some of the other educational lenses that are out there - learning styles, whole to parts vs. parts to whole, spiral vs. mastery... but I don't hear a lot about process vs. product oriented and I'd love to see that more. In that sense, even if you disagree with the viewpoint in the article, I think it's a nice clarifying tool to add to your box in how you approach art or education in general.

[shawthorne44]

I think they have their place.   Although, I looked in many preschool activity books and so many of the activities were 95% teacher effort.   Only one worthwhile is the one WTM recommends, but DD was beyond that.  One nice thing about homeschooling is that DD can do an arts project without an example.  I have been pleasantly surprised at the results.   Like before Easter I'd read on Kiwi Crates DIY projects about wrapping white paper around a chocolate bar, drawing a bunny face on the front and cutting out bunny ears and glueing them on.   I told DD and then bit my tongue when put the bar horizontal instead of vertical.   (I am a rule follower, which is I deliberately didn't show her the picture)    Hers were even cuter, and more her.   

[Dmmetler]

If you're looking for a way to declutter: Take pictures of them, frame ONE original of her choice for a future child's nursery, and then recycle guilt-free.

 

OTOH maybe they are helping insulate the freezer.

That was the intent. Except I never got around to doing it, so, years later, they're still there! I suppose one good thing about moving is that we'll end up cleaning out 9 years of accumulation.

[Dmmetler]

This is, by the way, the language that I learned to use when I was working in Quaker schools - product vs. process. Both have their place, but it's an incredibly useful lens for a lot of education thinking. It's like, okay, is the goal for this group play theater games and get better at acting and more comfortable speaking and being in front of a crowd or is the goal to put on a polished performance? Both have merits. Kids learn different things from each. And in schooling, where do you want your focus to be in teaching and learning? And if you want it to be on process, then it helps you let go of things like needing every writing to be polished or needing every history timeline to come out looking pretty or every science experiment to get written up.

 

I hear a lot of talk about some of the other educational lenses that are out there - learning styles, whole to parts vs. parts to whole, spiral vs. mastery... but I don't hear a lot about process vs. product oriented and I'd love to see that more. In that sense, even if you disagree with the viewpoint in the article, I think it's a nice clarifying tool to add to your box in how you approach art or education in general.

Process vs performance is a big deal in early childhood and elementary music Ed. I think it's helped in homeschooling that I had focused so much on the often conflicting philosophies and trying to adapt them for kids (and teaching college students how to do so).

[Tsuga]

That was the intent. Except I never got around to doing it, so, years later, they're still there! I suppose one good thing about moving is that we'll end up cleaning out 9 years of accumulation.

 

We just moved. All I can say is that the cleaning out was far more laborious and frustrating and far less freeing than expected. Good luck.

 

Farrar: I guess we have different samples. My experience does not lead me to believe there is a lot of "performance" or "final product" in pre-schools, but I have a biased sample. If I were to have seen that extensively I probably would be upset about it.

[...................]

We just moved. All I can say is that the cleaning out was far more laborious and frustrating and far less freeing than expected. Good luck.

 

Farrar: I guess we have different samples. My experience does not lead me to believe there is a lot of "performance" or "final product" in pre-schools, but I have a biased sample. If I were to have seen that extensively I probably would be upset about it.

What?  I LOVE cleaning out!! :oP

 

 

.,......as to the OP........ just like many things in life, it's not either-or.  We can do both.  Plenty of free time with access to excellent materials, some silly teacher directed paper and Popsicle crafts, and some real CM style handiwork crafts.    

 

I will add this though;  IT"S SUPER IMPORTANT TO GiVE them frEE TIME AND SPACE AND LOTS OF IT ...if I had to choose one, I would definitely choose that over all those little crafts.

 

Case in point:  I teach Sunday School and there are kids there from public school who CANNOT and WILL NOT produce a creative product without absolute, specific direction on every fine point.  We are talking about ten year olds who CANNOT fold a paper plate into a triangle while looking at a demonstration.  They will ask me, How to do each and every fold!!!  And then they will wait until I stand behind them, and even show them from their own angle, how to fold it.  Every public/private traditional school kid over the age of about 8 has this problem.  It's really quite uncanny.  After two years of teaching this group of kids I have officially given up on asking the PS kids to do any of the open ended projects.  They are absolutely stunted by their environment.  They are so worried that it's going to come out "wrong" they won't move forward on simple tasks.  On more detailed tasks, they can't even figure it out.  At all.  It's almost terrifying to me what will happen when these kids face challenges in real life.  I have come to the point where I only have them do the simple crafts with the group (aka the younger kids) and if I have an open-ended fun task, I just give it to the homeschoolers.  I hate to discriminate, but it's just a sad fact of life.  Being in a classroom 7 hours a day from age four will stunt many children's ability to create.  I refuse to leave out all the creative projects out of my Sunday School lessons, so now i just divide up the room a bit and try to make it work for everyone.  BUT if I include the school kids in the creative projects that I designed for older kids, they CANNOT do it.  

 

The funny thing is, the little kids are all about the same.  They all have thier own ideas, colors, ways of folding, ways of trying things....it's right about the 3rd grade that almost all of the traditionally-schooled kids lose their ability and desire to explore and create.

 

And, I can see why artistic creative out-of-the-box kids HATE school!  Imagine being told exactly where the petals go int he styrofoam flower ball.  My dd would cut the ball in half, make a half a world and turn it into something totally new...and then what?  Thank God she's not in traditional school.

 

 

Edited April 27, 2016 by Calming Tea

[ReadingMama1214]

My idea of arts and crafts time is handing my 4 year old the big tub of art supplies and letting her have at it. Sometimes we do things such as cutting circles and petals for flowers. But usually she makes it her own. She doesn't like to be forced to do something a certain way. She can draw extremely well for her age and color in the lines of she wants to. She rarely does though. She prefers coloring outside of the lines! Haha. And I bite my tongue to keep from saying anything.

[T'smom]

There were a couple of years where color, cut, paste activities were my dd's favorite thing in the entire world. I couldn't keep up with providing her with those things. There was plenty of worth for her just in entertainment value.

[SKL]

My kids have always had a box of craft materials which they were free to play with.  What they didn't have (from me) was assignments for how to use those materials.  They had no trouble coming up with ideas of their own.  Some of the ideas were quite entertaining for onlookers.  :P

[MeaganS]

Blah. I have nothing against them but won't do them at home except in very specific circumstances and rare occasions. In fact, I outsource that kind of thing to the co-op. I just don't enjoy it personally.

 

What we did is for Christmas one year I bought a tote and filled it with open-ended supplies like tissue paper, paper plates and bags, construction paper, glue, ribbon, cotton balls, googly eyes, etc. And I keep it full of whatever I find. They use this on a daily basis to make whatever they want. They also have a box of printer paper at their disposal. They use these supplies for hours a day.

 

We practice processes with things like Snap Circuits, the dishes, sewing kits, etc.

[Bluegoat]

This is, by the way, the language that I learned to use when I was working in Quaker schools - product vs. process. Both have their place, but it's an incredibly useful lens for a lot of education thinking. It's like, okay, is the goal for this group play theater games and get better at acting and more comfortable speaking and being in front of a crowd or is the goal to put on a polished performance? Both have merits. Kids learn different things from each. And in schooling, where do you want your focus to be in teaching and learning? And if you want it to be on process, then it helps you let go of things like needing every writing to be polished or needing every history timeline to come out looking pretty or every science experiment to get written up.

 

I hear a lot of talk about some of the other educational lenses that are out there - learning styles, whole to parts vs. parts to whole, spiral vs. mastery... but I don't hear a lot about process vs. product oriented and I'd love to see that more. In that sense, even if you disagree with the viewpoint in the article, I think it's a nice clarifying tool to add to your box in how you approach art or education in general.

 

I think though that the authors distinction here - that these things are product oriented - is pretty much wrong.  I don't think they are any more product oriented than something the child produces that was completely child led.

 

The goals of the process are just different.

[FO4UR]

Preschool children are little people.

 

They need art that is their own, and they also need to learn crafting that is led by another person.

 

These two things have different purposes.  The end product is important to them, so it should be important to us.  That said, our idea of what the end product should be is not that important.  It's their work.  They are little people, not our own personal craft to mold.

 

 

My own 3yo spent 3 months snipping paper. She wanted me to hold a strip of colored paper while she snip snip snipped away.  She enjoyed the sounds, and the sights, and the feel of her hand in the scissors.  Next, she would take a new sheet of construction paper and dot dot dot with glue.  Then she would put her snips of paper on the glue dots.  I showed her how to cut, how to glue, and how to draw a picture first and dot the glue on the lines.  Then I let her go with it.

 

That sort of crafting is the beginning of learning to follow directions and learning how to gain a skill and then use it for your own purpose.  It's a big deal.

 

She loves to paint.  The only thing I am teaching right now is how to keep the area neat, and how to clean up when she's finished.  The rest is free painting.   That sort of freestyle art gives kids the confidence to try new things, to imagine, and to attempt to make concrete the idea in their head.  It's a big deal.

 

Arts & crafts should not be something that takes more from the adult than it does from the child.  If it does, you are doing it wrong.  These are things I have mine do at the table to keep them busy while I work close by.

 

That said, preschoolers love to sit next to an adult and do art together.  They will mimic the adult's work.  That is best instruction.  Quiet imitation.

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

I never was under the impression they were necessary.  And yes most of them are a complete waste of time.  But some kids really like this stuff, and so for that fact alone it's not completely pointless.

 

My kids didn't attend preschool, but we did a lot of various classes.  What I always found weird is how many parents would basically do the craft for the kid.  They'd get upset if it didn't come out perfect so they ended up doing a lot of the work.  I didn't do that.  Maybe I'd help with something difficult if my kid asked me, but I really didn't care if the butterfly's head got glued on upside down. 

 

Heck, one time a parent yelled at her preschooler because she drew only one eye on her person.  That totally freaked the mother out for some reason. 

[Dmmetler]

In music, the difference between process and product is where it stops. When it's process based, it stops either when the time allotted stops, or when the child is done, and once it's done, while the child may choose to come back to that activity later, its up to the child. If there is a performance element, it is simply an invitation into the child's world. So, you might have the 'come in for the last 5 minutes of class and see what we're doing' or "parents are allowed to visit the last class of the semester" or the child may choose to show off and sing their song or play the piece they invented at home or in the car, but it's up to the child. Process is all class and exploration, but no real "Rehearsal" or "practice".  You may sing or play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", but you don't worry so much about mastering it.

 

When the goal is performance, the adult decides when it's done, and there is a goal of making it good enough to show off and perfect. Pieces are polished, revisited, and kept.

 

In music, Orff tends to be process based almost to the exclusion of performance, and to the point that most Orff clinicians and teachers actually do "informances", where they explain WHY the kids are doing what they are doing and how they went about getting to that point. Since a big focus of the Orff method is improvisation and creation by the students, sometimes you end up performing something that honestly kind of sounds like a train wreck-but the kids created it and are proud of it. There is no one body of "Orff" work-only a series of methods used to break down any piece of music and using it as a framework for learning other skills.

 

Suzuki is much more performance based. There is a set sequence of pieces to be learned and mastered from Pre-twinkle to the end of book 10. The goal is mastery and extremely high quality performance.

 

BOTH are extremely valid methods of learning, and, honestly, I feel that I am a much better teacher because I'm trained in and experienced with both, and can mix them. And when I teach at music camps and the like, when I'm working with kids who have come from both strict Suzuki and Orff backgrounds, I see benefits in both. My Orff-raised kids are flexible, creative,and inventive. They make suggestions and comments and are an active part of the process. They own what they do. My Suzuki kids can take the ideas that the Orff kids toss around and make them happen.  They are technically brilliant. They have amazing ears and are able to "hear" how things will fit together before they play them. Many of the kids are a mix of both, often with some Kodaly, Dalcroze, and maybe a touch of Faber or Alfred or Bastien thrown in.  Put a group of middle school aged kids all of whom have had 6+ years of instruction, and I truly don't have to teach so much as just play moderator-the magic happens, and it leads to some very, very amazing, creative performances of original work.

 

 

I see the same thing. The child who spends hours freely drawing, gluing, painting, and structuring with some modeling by the parent is more of an Orff based approach. The child owns what they're doing, and yeah, sometimes it's a train wreck.

 

The child who cuts on lines and carefully applies glue to build parts of a butterfly is more of a Suzuki approach, where, over time, they get better and better at the techniques and are able to apply them well.

 

There is room for both. There is need for both.

[FO4UR]

 

 

I see the same thing. The child who spends hours freely drawing, gluing, painting, and structuring with some modeling by the parent is more of an Orff based approach. The child owns what they're doing, and yeah, sometimes it's a train wreck.

 

The child who cuts on lines and carefully applies glue to build parts of a butterfly is more of a Suzuki approach, where, over time, they get better and better at the techniques and are able to apply them well.

 

There is room for both. There is need for both.

 

 

YES!!!

 

I agree, and I relate to the music comparisons. 

 

 

I'm 90% Orff and 10% Suzuki with age 3.  Those percentages morph over time to a balanced 50/50.  Unless you have a student destined for a music or art career, 50/50 is happy. 

[Tsuga]

Calming Tea, I do not dispute your observation but it sounds like that is a very specific PS model that those church kids have had the misfortune of enduring to be so terribly affected.

 

I cannot even get my PS educated kids, or the neighbors, or nieces and nephews to stop to listen to me half the time so it is my assesse meant that whatever the cause, it is not universal at school or exclusive to public school.

[learning456]

I love preschool crafts, but my kids never cared much for them. I quickly realized it was not worth all the supplies and set-up and therefore stopped doing them. But give my kids some paper, tape, and string and they will go to town. So much tape has been used in my house that I have been known to hide it just so it may be available to me when needed.

[Farrar]

I think though that the authors distinction here - that these things are product oriented - is pretty much wrong.  I don't think they are any more product oriented than something the child produces that was completely child led.

 

The goals of the process are just different.

 

Well, obviously there's a process to them. I mean, there's a process to getting ready for a play, a science fair, a recital, writing a polished essay, etc. And the side result of those processes are that the student learns something - in this case, to follow directions, to cut and paste a certain way, to color inside the lines, some small motor skills, etc. But the primary focus is that the craft be something nice to take home and show off, at least, that strongly seems to be the ethos associated with these. So I disagree with what you're saying here. While there might be a few preschool teachers out there who genuinely are doing this out of some focus on directions following as a process, I'm pretty sure the focus is the end product for the vast majority of preschools.

 

You can also have something child led that's product oriented - the child chooses the product, the adult helps them work toward it. I think that's just a different lens. You could have something adult led that's process oriented - a lot of skill work is like that - doing math drills would be a good example or playing math games or doing handwriting worksheets.

[abcmommy]

I think the author totally missed the actual point of those projects, which are fine motor skills, following directions, and tactile experiences.

 

It's not meant to be a creativity-building activity...

 

My kids did free art as well as crafts, and they also did a lot of pure play, like just playing with the media like cotton balls, sand, paint, non-Newtonian fluids, etc.

 

I got them about twice a week, and considering that the children spent a good 20 hours in the classroom (4 hours per day, 5 days a week), that is not a ton of time spent on following directions and working with scissors.

 

And none of my kids' crafts showed much teacher involvement, LOL.  

 

We just kept them on the fridge for the week then recycled. They had fun.

 

 

Oh good.  Yes.  That's the point.  I teach prek and I love it.  When I am contemplating an activity for my class the goal is often to choose something which enhances fine motor skills- stickers, pony beads and lacing, play doh, cutting practice (so important!) coloring...

[Bluegoat]

Well, obviously there's a process to them. I mean, there's a process to getting ready for a play, a science fair, a recital, writing a polished essay, etc. And the side result of those processes are that the student learns something - in this case, to follow directions, to cut and paste a certain way, to color inside the lines, some small motor skills, etc. But the primary focus is that the craft be something nice to take home and show off, at least, that strongly seems to be the ethos associated with these. So I disagree with what you're saying here. While there might be a few preschool teachers out there who genuinely are doing this out of some focus on directions following as a process, I'm pretty sure the focus is the end product for the vast majority of preschools.

 

You can also have something child led that's product oriented - the child chooses the product, the adult helps them work toward it. I think that's just a different lens. You could have something adult led that's process oriented - a lot of skill work is like that - doing math drills would be a good example or playing math games or doing handwriting worksheets.

 

Kids that age seem product oriented quite a lot.

 

I don't think most pre-school teachers care a lot about paper turkey though.

 

It's nice to let kids choose, but a bit of a luxery in a pre-school setting.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Well, obviously there's a process to them. I mean, there's a process to getting ready for a play, a science fair, a recital, writing a polished essay, etc. And the side result of those processes are that the student learns something - in this case, to follow directions, to cut and paste a certain way, to color inside the lines, some small motor skills, etc. But the primary focus is that the craft be something nice to take home and show off, at least, that strongly seems to be the ethos associated with these. So I disagree with what you're saying here. While there might be a few preschool teachers out there who genuinely are doing this out of some focus on directions following as a process, I'm pretty sure the focus is the end product for the vast majority of preschools.

 

You can also have something child led that's product oriented - the child chooses the product, the adult helps them work toward it. I think that's just a different lens. You could have something adult led that's process oriented - a lot of skill work is like that - doing math drills would be a good example or playing math games or doing handwriting worksheets.

 

As someone with a degree in early childhood education, I can 100% say that the teachers do choose these projects as the means to an end.  And that skill and process learning is definitely that end.  Of course there are 100s of different ways to work on those skills so if you can find one that works on skills and checks off a box on celebrating a holiday, which is also discussed as part of social literacy, then it is a win-win. 

[luuknam]

So much tape has been used in my house that I have been known to hide it just so it may be available to me when needed.

 

What is it with tape? Why do my kids (especially my youngest) go through two rolls of tape in one hour!?

[Bluegoat]

I mostly just go without tape, and pickles, because I know if I keep them in stock I will be bankrupted.

[Serenade]

Laughing at the tape comments..  I think kids love tape because it's so easy to use.  And it's kind of fun.  What's not to love about something that is sticky and comes off a roll?

 

My younger son adored paper crafts, although they were the kind of his own invention, and always involved tape.  He made fantastic, huge creations out of construction paper and tape. I confess, there was a time when it drove me crazy and I actually worried about him using too much paper and tape.  I mean, it's not like we couldn't afford a pack of construction paper and a couple of rolls a tape each week.  If I had those days to live over again, I'd eat beans before I'd limit my son's paper and tape.  Oh, for the days when he made a giant mouse trap out of construction paper.  How sad I am that I finally put it in the attic so he would gradually forget about it, and I could throw it away.  :-( 

 

I will say, though, that paper crafts evolved into Legos, which evolved into electronics and 3-D modeling…Those who need to create, will create. 

[Bluegoat]

There are some pretty cool duct tape projects out there.  Maybe not for toddlers though.

[SparklyUnicorn]

There are some pretty cool duct tape projects out there.  Maybe not for toddlers though.

 

I once made a kick @$$ purse out of duct tape.  I wish I could remember where the picture of it went.  Somewhere on my computer....

[...................]

Calming Tea, I do not dispute your observation but it sounds like that is a very specific PS model that those church kids have had the misfortune of enduring to be so terribly affected.

 

I cannot even get my PS educated kids, or the neighbors, or nieces and nephews to stop to listen to me half the time so it is my assesse meant that whatever the cause, it is not universal at school or exclusive to public school.

 

Yes, not to say that my little group is a scientific theory, but I had the same experience when teaching Sunday School back in FL.  Only there, the children were more likely to completely tune out by 3rd grade and stop caring or even bothering or trying to please. If passive aggressive, they would just do the bare minimum, stick the glue on the thing, and then either chat with friends or lay their heads down.  If more direct child, they would just say they didn't want to do anything.  And then the children who aimed to please, would do the same things as the kids here...they can follow exact directions but generally have no ability to come up with anything that is in any way open-ended.

 

I really firmly believe that institutionalized schooling does something weird to most kids' ability to be creative, and to self direct.  Of course many of the best artists and engineers we now have, were schooled institutionally but my guess is they hated school, and likely weren't the conformers.  :o)

[Bluegoat]

Yes, not to say that my little group is a scientific theory, but I had the same experience when teaching Sunday School back in FL.  Only there, the children were more likely to completely tune out by 3rd grade and stop caring or even bothering or trying to please. If passive aggressive, they would just do the bare minimum, stick the glue on the thing, and then either chat with friends or lay their heads down.  If more direct child, they would just say they didn't want to do anything.  And then the children who aimed to please, would do the same things as the kids here...they can follow exact directions but generally have no ability to come up with anything that is in any way open-ended.

 

I really firmly believe that institutionalized schooling does something weird to most kids' ability to be creative, and to self direct.  Of course many of the best artists and engineers we now have, were schooled institutionally but my guess is they hated school, and likely weren't the conformers.   :o)

 

I don't know that many of the kids I went to school with who became engineers were non-conformists, though perhaps they are not the best engineers. 

 

Although quite a lot of them didn't seem all that interested in actually making things when they were students.

[MotherGoose]

My favorite preschool craft is "collage." It gives me an excuse to buy all that cute scraobook paper I'll never use and to save wrapping paper, bits of ribbon, aluminum foil, etc. I put it in a box, give kids a glue stick, scissors, markers or crayons, and a blank piece of paper, and tell the kids to make a picture. You could limit it with red and green colors for Christmas or something if you wanted, etc. I found that my children worked at carefully cutting out a picture of a chicken, for example, if they wanted s chicken in the picture, which was much more fulfilling for them than cutting out something I suggested in advance. I realize that this approach has its limits, but they had loads of fun and creativity with it, and I enjoyed it too.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Why does it have to be either or?  I  know lots of classrooms that have a mix of directed step-by-step activities and free art time where you can do in any direction you want.