the craft dilemma

[shaestar]

Tannah loves all things craft. She loves cutting, glueing, stickers, painting etc etc. She has a pretty short attention span for it however and prefers to come in and out of projects she is working on.

My dilemma is the other kids. Harper isn't mobile yet but Willow at 2yo is more than keen to investigate (and unfortunately usually wreck) the works in progress. Tannah is getting annoyed at having to wait for set up time (and TBH it's driving me batshit, the constant setting and packing up) but is not happy at all with any wreckage of projects. Willow is too little to control her interest.

Apart from making "craft time" when Willow is asleep (which is what I'm kind of doing now) anyone have any other ideas?:shrug

[Beatrice]

I wish :lol We're in the same situation with K and H.

Is setting Tannah up outside and keeping willow occupied inside an option as the weather warms up? I'm intending to set up an outdoor table for crafting out the back in summer.

[Ceres]

Is there a small area that can be gated off or can you put a small table inside a play pen?

[Harmony]

We have a baby gate on the spare bedroom door and they have all that stuff in there. It semi-works because A is competent enough to do stuff without supervision mostly, but often enough takes to everything with the scissors and glue, usually with disastrous results :( At least they know to keep B out...much to her disgust.

[Mud]

My 2yo is nearly 3, and I've recently figured out everyone is happiest if she can do her own version of the project nearby my 6yo. This way she usually refrains from total destruction mode. It works for most things, although some things have to wait for nap time (I keep postponing my 6yo's beading project, especially as her younger sister still puts little things in her mouth). I recently got her some indestructible colour textas and have been building up some other things of her own, like scissors and watercolour paints.

We have a covered outdoor area with a table, and often she'll just have a go at pasting or snipping, then head off to play in the garden. This is handy, as I don't have to supervise for long. Sometimes if I'm busy, I ask her older sister to help her do something, and they might even manage to work together without intervention.

Letting her join in has worked out well, as I think she was feeling left out of all the fun (she was biting her sister and having lots of tantrums, but this has improved). She needs to express her independence, and seems to seek creative outlets. I should have taken a photo this afternoon, after her sister left a box with jars of paint lying around we ended up with brightly coloured hand and footprints on the floor and blobs on the rug.

[Beatrice]

I'm finding it hard to let K do as much crafting as she wants since we're now renting, we have no outdoor area for messy craft, and H is Chaos Incarnate when it comes to disturbing K's activities, upending boxes of bits, devouring gluesticks, etc.

[Kris]

Oh dear B, you sound very frustrated :grouphug

I have no advice - we're just out of the destroy for attention (though Isla is getting awfully close to filling the void).

[Beatrice]

Gngngh. K's New Big Thing is beading - H thinks it's a faaaabulous opportunity to scatter beads far and wide, snatch stuff away from K while she's concentrating, and generally be a pain. And he hasn't had a day sleep for yonks, and he and K go to bed virtually at the same time (when they're not staying up all night being pestilential, which is a different whinge).

I am half-contemplating a day or half-day of childcare for H once a week so that K and I can do stuff together which doesn't benefit from his attention. But I told H all about it and he was very enthusiastic about the "lots of other kids and games and someone to do fun stuff with you part", but absolutely adamant that the "no mummy or daddy or K there with you" part wasn't going to happen :lol

[Kris]

It doesn't have to be no mummy or no daddy there to begin with though B. You or DH could stay initially till he settles in.

OR

Perhaps until your DH starts his new job he could take H out two mornings a week and you and K could have that time to bead, cook, whatever?

[Beatrice]

Or both - we can't afford cc til E is working anyway :lol

[Kris]

Would E be up for it? I'm trying to think of dry, contained spaces for him to take H - the only thing that is coming to mind at present is Kidz Bizz in Kingston which isn't particularly expensive but will get repetitive and overly loud for E after maybe the first half hour :lol