We are quite creative in our home (apparently). When E was very young we would do play afternoon on mondays. This was a special activity time where we might play with water, bake, do something that ultimately meant loads of cleaning up for me. I allocated on afternoon for
this as it meant that i could justify to myself not to do it every day and know that I had time to tidy up before anyone came over. It was also the day for baby things (baby club was in the morning - mums and tots it was called, and wieghing at the clinic was in the afternoon - but only took 5 mins.) When we stopped baby club and weighing messy afternoon continued until about 6 months ago. Now we do a half hour of school time each day and soemtimes it is 'messy, but because she is older it rarely gets to be messy because we set it up to maximise enjoyment and minimise mess. Any of these activities can be used for just fun and experiencing new things or can be concentrated on designing cards, posters, calendars etc.
Have an activity apron - it is a must for all creative play be it messy paints, water or even just pens, pencils and crayons. Clothe in play clothes underneath in case they do get marked - at least it isnt their best white item or favourite dress/pair of trousers. Always do tidy up time together. It breeds good habits and means you dont have to supervise them in a different room while you are clearing up in this one.
Have a clear space. We dont have a kitchen table - or any other kind of table in our home. Oops, we do have a coffee table now, but I still dont really use it for activity time. So instead I use the kitchen floor. It has lino, so worst comes to worst I can wash it. It tends to be painting day that this happens for now. We get the paints out, have an old icecream box of warm water for washing hands and brushes. Have kitchen towel or an old handtowel available for drying hands and brushes. I lay old newspapers on the floor and overlay it with a large plastic sheet that I picked up in a pound shop (a store where everything is a pound or less). When doing hand and foot prints we have a special place to stand and draw around her feet (two big circles) then painted feet dont go where they shouldnt and i have her little chair to hand to sit her down on for when we are done and I wash her feet. Needless to say feet painting is the last thing that happens on those days before tidy up time.
When we are doing sticking I tend to keep the objects in plastic bags (leaves and outdoor things we have collected) or plastic tubs (shiny paper/old wrapping paper that I have cut shapes/patterns from), and when we take them out to stick the ones we dont use go back in straight away so that they are ready for use later or next time and there is less mess to work around. I have also been known to cut out from magazines certain themed pictures and we have stuck them on to a collage eg family, colourful, sports, trees and flowers themes.
Drawing, be it with biros, felt pens, crayons or coloured pencils again happens on newspaper, I am not so bothered about being in the kitchen or laying down the plastic for this one, but I have only just introduced the felt pens since she turned 3. We have heaps of old computer paper that is great for encouraging scribbles, and now we try to go between the lines, or do certain shapes. She draws a lovely likeness of me!!! Well, it does have a head, a body, two arms, two legs, eyes, nose, mouth and hair - usually I get clothed also which is positively special.
Water play always happens in the bathroom. I have kept E's big baby bath and we get all her toys into that and do measuring, pouring, and various other activities to do with water and volume. Thenumber of straws that go to water play and not to assisting her to drink have been countless!
Playdough happens on the plastic and newspaper (in the lounge) because if it gets onto things it just colours them so bad and gets stuck into the carpet, and i just so cant be doing with the digging it out later on (caring for carpet isnt one of my strong suits) so I tend to use prevention as opposed to cure when doing things that may mess the carpet. Playdough birthday cakes are great fun, 'Ice' with glitter and stick a candle in the top.
Baking obviously happens in the kitchen and is just heaps of fun, as she gets better at pouring we do better at maintaining the damage for the clean up process. I rinse (wash) everything we use then leave her at the sink to wash all the plastic bowls, cups, wooden spoons, teaspoons etc that we have used. The only things she doesnt get are the sharp knives, anything pyrex or potentially breakable, forks and knives, the electric blender and my largest chopping board - it is just too big for her. That takes her enough time until the baking is finished and i can get on with housework in the rest of the house while she splashes and sings.
In the past she has helped me with glass painting, and her glass is the only one we have ever kept! as well as various other craft projects we have been involved with for ourselves, for gifts or for church events. With a bit of patience our children can be involved in anything that we do we just have to think a little laterally. I find that i get more done and done quicker if I get her to help me. When I have to do writing she gets out her pen and we both 'write our diaries'. She loves doing what mummy is doing and being grown up.
Occasions to make and create for:
- Birthdays
- Christmas
- Mothers/Fathers/Grandparents day
- Any day - just because or check out e-card sites - they celebrate something every day of the year it seems!
- Easter
- Saints days, bank holidays, school inset days
Right now she is waiting for me on the sofa for a cuddle so I will stop here. I hope that this has helped and that you are inspired. I am the ultimate in lazyness but love to create. So I tend to try and find the least messy way to do all the luxuriously messy things so I have all the enjoyment and none of the clearing away.
Happy creating!
Peace
EF.x 
(November 2006) (
