Are you tired of your daycare parents leaving art and craft projects behind or seeing them in the car as they leave? The children in your daycare have are proud of their work and you are proud of the process. We asked the OwnADaycare Facebook fans how they handle the situation and for suggestions for creative things to do with neglected artwork.
- Maybe you can put up a sign that says you will be keeping them to use as decorations and if they want them they can take them down. Put them all in specific area and maybe every other week they either take them or you dispose of them.
- I do not do a lot of arts and crafts projects with my kids. I like to do more garden projects or cooking. We will color daily or do letter number practice sheets, but those I put in a folder and once a month I send it home like a book for them to read together and the child can explain each thing to them. But our projects are usually cooking activities, or gardening. This way they are bringing home a cookie, brownie, etc. or a flower in a pot, veggies we grew together. Something a parent would not leave in the car.
- There’s not much you can do after it leaves your house. I have had families tell me that they don’t know why I bother doing them with their child because they are only going to throw them out when they get home anyways. I still do them with that child because I know that my house is the only place she gets to do crafts and such.
- It’s kind of a tough thing, you want to give the kids lots of sensory and art experiences, and you want the parents to see what they are doing while in care, but the amount of crafts can be overwhelming. I try to do one special one each week, and the rest, such as coloring, gluing etc. I think of as practice and if the kids ask to take it home I let them, if not it goes out. We also go to several playgroups each week and they do crafts there too, so it ends up being quite a lot… well that is childhood.
- I keep the projects in my house for a month, because they are all related to the theme of the month, and the kids are always making them come in and look at their space on the walls. Then they go home and the kids won’t let the parents throw them away. I love guilt.
- Make a box for all art/craft projects per family. Hand them to the parents as a holiday gift (mother’s day, father’s day, Christmas, Hanukkah, etc. They may even appreciate them more then. You can also make a scrapbook of all their art work, as the parents seem to keep them when they are all in one place.
- I send home any projects we do (and I HATE knowing how many go straight to the trash), but I did get each kid (2-4 year olds) their own ‘journal’ so when they just want to draw/doodle they are all together and when it’s full they can go home together. We even do some journaling exercises like after seeing a airplane outside we drew a picture of where we thought it was going. I have trouble throwing out anything my daughter’s even made a scribble on, but I know parents won’t keep each little doodle so at least when they are done they have a book that shows their progress of ‘doodling’ over time. Plus then I’m not always getting out coloring books, colored paper, scrap paper, computer paper (although we do plenty of that too).
- I usually place all the children’s artwork and notices in the backpacks and try to coordinate that with laundry days so I know their artwork will make it inside their homes.
- I have a 3 ring binder where i put most of their nice Art and when parents give me my 3 week notice of removing child I add a little thank you letter at the end and kids get to take it home It includes pictures and art also sometimes send work home
as a parent myself I use to throw much of my sons daycare art and putting it in a binder with his pictures as help.
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