The Upcycling Nanny: A Guide for Upcycling with Arts and Crafts with Your Child

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A guide for completing projects with your child.

7 year old's soldier turkey

Upcycling with arts and crafts is educational for children. Knowing the difference between arts and crafts and how they develop your child's skills is important to you determine which projects to complete and what lessons and skills the project will reinforce.

Most of us love to see our child's arts and crafts projects or receive their handmade gifts. Sometimes we decide to embark on a project with our own children for fun and find the process of creating with children isn't as much fun as the final project reveal makes it seem. Some of us leave our child's crafting time for their teachers and experienced caregivers.

5 year old's superman

Then we get the homework projects to disguise this holiday character or "supervise" a science experiment. Often as adults we expect finished products to look exactly like the picture or something we would do ourselves. The 5 year olds that disguised the "superman" turkey and the "darth vader" turkey are twins. The 3.5 year olds that made the "super ballerina" turkey and the "batman" turkey are less than a month apart in age. All of the turkeys are individual even though each meets the requirements of the assingment. Some of us are just so OCD that we have to glue materials in an exact spot for our children or clean up while they are still working with a material.

5 year old's darth vader

For those of us who want the perfect finished product, we should do the project alongside our children. This is often better for younger children as well. Monkey-see, Monkey-do. We sometimes forget little fingers can not do what our adult fingers are capable of doing.

3.5 year old's batman turkey

We tell ourselves, if our child can play the same game for 2 hours, surely they will sit through an hour of glueing scrap paper onto a turkey. In reality, our child quickly loses interest and we begin glueing the scraps into place. Following general attention span guidelines, a child's attention span is their age + 1 minute. Variables that will affect attention spans are basic needs such as hunger, sleepiness, general health and feelings. If your child was just disciplined and is teetering on the angry side, they are less likely to show interest or last even the minimum of their normal attention span.

3.5 year old's super ballerina turkey

Whether your project is a homework assignment or a fun upcycling project you have to be willing to stop when you feel like your child is taking advantage of you. If you are constantly threatening to stop and put away the project but instead you soldier on, you are setting a pattern for every project you do with your child. Incorporate positive guidance techniques into your crafting time.

Tell your child what they can do rather than what not to do.

Make directions a positive, respectful request

Clearly state rules with an explanation and demonstration

Use effective praise, social reinforcers, activity reinforcers rather than tangible reinforcers

Validate your child's feelings

After considering the age and capabilities of your child, you can adjust how much prep work to put into a project to help keep the activity flowing smoothly and maintain the attention of your child.

Prep Work

For crafting at any age there is prep work. When you gather supplies for crafting with children you should include any you think you may need to help minimize waiting times. Prep work for upcycling includes cleaning and preparing recyclables for use. Keep the supplies near your work space but out of reach of the children. I put supplies on a separate fold-out table or a rolling cart. Consider arranging supplies in the order you plan to use them. Open containers, lay out tools, and prefill paint or glue dishes.

Prep work for crafting with children also means gluing, cutting, shaping and combining any items your child is incapable of doing themselves. I have learned to add names and dates to the project during prep work as well. Children work very hard on their projects and envision what they think a finished product will look like, just as we do. Once they have completed a project it is committed to their memory as they see it. After an adult adds an element such as a name, date or title, most children no longer see a project as their own . Another thing to consider for prep work are questions you can ask your child to help the process flow smoothly and stay on track. Use open-ended questions (no correct answer) for art and direct clear questions for crafts. Allow young children minimal choices for open-ended decisions to keep the project moving along. For instance, instead of asking your young child to choose from 5 shades of each color for painting a rainbow, give them 2 shades of each color. Then ask your child, "Which shade of _____ do you want?" Ask your child for each color. Consider any lessons that can be reinforced and decide how to present the information to your child. When you are reinforcing a lesson with a project or turning it into a learning experience as you go be sure to remain conversational and present information in a manner that is light hearted and fun so your child does not interpret it as a lecture.

This is also the best time to read through the instructions for the project and try to commit them to memory. Minimizing any wait times, whether to look up instructions or find materials will ensure your child remains interested throughout the project. When wait times are inevitable sing a song, play game such as eye spy or discuss the lesson.

For projects with many steps that you are certain you will have to pause in multiple places to help them with their project you may consider working through a few pieces and stopping at different points. Even if you do not use each stopping point for demonstrating, you will be able to use one for catching up to your child's work and demonstrating further.

We will consider the prep work needed for a paper plate fish tank. When we made these fish tanks I had 3 children to craft with. A 16 month old, 3.5 year old and 7 year old. I had my 7 year old help me cut the tops of the plates and paint the bottom half blue. Before we sat to do the craft. When the younger children joined us there were a few choices in stickers for them to stick onto the plate and the only direction I had to give them was to place the stickers in the blue area. I gave them this instruction by asking where fish lived both older children said in the water! I asked if the plates had water on them and both older children said yes the blue part is water. I told the children we better get the fish back in the water quickly! This allowed me more time to focus on the 16 month old, who needed help peeling the backs off the foam stickers and placing them sticky side down.

7 year old's paper plate fishtank

16 month old's paper plate fishtank

3.5 year old's paper plate fishtank

Preparing your workspace

Cover floors, furniture and clothing. I use the throw away tablecloths for birthday parties most of the time. They are large enough for any table and provide a good amount of floor or even wall protection. If your child decides to use too much glue, make a mess, spill a liquid or color off a piece paper, your furniture and floors are not damaged. For my older children and myself we wear old, oversized scrubs on top of our clothing to protect our clothing and skin. For my younger children, I save old adult sized t-shirts and use a hair tie or something similar to tighten the fit. For children I do arts and crafts with regularly we make art smocks from the throw away table cloths.

Start Your Project

Doing the actual craft with your is usually much faster than any other part. Prep work tends to take longest and clean up is usually quick if you keep things organized as you go. Before you begin each step ask your child to make any decisions that accompany the step. Children are capable of visualizing a concept around the age of 2. This doesn't mean if you asked them what colors to paint their rainbow an hour ago the visualized the rainbow on the bird house in front of them now.

Work through each step by demonstrating on your own project. If you are not completing a project, show your child pictures of each step or telling them clearly what you want them to do and ask your child to show you on their own project. When you are working with younger children, they may not be capable of understanding or visualizing what you are asking. The wording you use may make your child interpret your instructions differently than you intended. Keep in mind, no matter how you deliver instructions your child's project will not look exactly like yours or the picture on the box or the instructions.

The length of time spent on each step and for completing the entire project, depends on the project you choose and your child. For younger children under the age of 3 look for arts and crafts that will take no more than 15 minutes to complete. For 3-6 year olds look for projects that will take no more than 45 minutes to complete. Children 7 and up are capable of doing projects that last longer than an hour or are broken up into a series of work on different days. You will learn your child's style and what they are capable of accomplishing. Remember you are there to help your child. Taking a project from your child to do something yourself will not make the process run smoothly. Emotions will run high and your child will begin to feel inadequate.

Clean-up

Once you and your child have completed the steps for your project, it is time for clean-up. Encourage your child to assist you by cleaning dishes and tools in a tupperware container with soapy water. Your child's hands will be clean and you can put away materials. Sing a clean-up song while repackaging small materials or putting them in baggies and containers. Don't forget to close any glues, paints or markers you opened before starting.

Finishing Touches

Not every project is complete when you are finished crafting with your child. Some projects require you to reinforce glue or ties after your child leaves the work space. You might also have to add a clear coat to a painting to save it. You may want to add an ornament hook or something similar when your child is no longer working with the project.

Visit our supply store to purchase any supplies or tools you need to put your skills to work Upcycling with your child.

I hope you enjoy looking around and thank you for taking the time to read. I look forward to your comments and be sure to email me at jennifer@theupcyclingnanny.com any pictures of items you decide to upcycle!!