Imagine being a four-year-old again:

After your teacher reads "Go Away, Big Green Monster!" you visit the art table to find pre-cut materials to create your own "monster." The teacher has already made one and displayed it for you to see just what a monster should look like. All of the materials are the same for everyone; the teacher places drops of glue on a paper plate and instructs you to place on eyes, a nose, a mouth, teeth, ears, and hair. When you finish, you notice that yours doesn't quite look like the one the teacher made, even though you used the same pieces that she did; the teeth on yours are a little crooked. Your teacher praises the boy next to you, saying, "Look how Jimmy blued his scary teeth right in the middle of the mouth!" The teacher says yours is nice, too, but she didn't say anything in particular about what you did. Reluctantly, you put it in your backpack, hiding it behind the snowman she showed you how to make yesterday.

Unfortunately, this is what happens when most young children "craft." An adult makes a model to copy and decides which materials are necessary to complete the project.

What do these projects teach, other than following adult directions? Nothing about creativity, that's for sure.

In my opinion, the best crafts for young children are the ones that allow them to explore the artistic process and be creative, often referred to as "child initiated" projects. In such projects, the ending project is not as important as how it was made. Children are able to make their own decisions and increase confidence in their skills.

Let's revisit the "monster" craft, adapting it to this "process" focus.

When children come to the art table, it is filled with a variety of materials, such as:
* buttons
* pipe cleaners
* tissue paper
* pom-poms
* construction paper
* puffy stickers in basic shapes (circles, triangles, etc.) and various colors
* markers
* crayons
* pencils
* scissors
* glue

Each child is given a paper plate to use as a base and asked to make their own monster. The teacher asks questions to the children as they work, such as
* Where does the monster live? * Is it scary or funny?
* Is it big or small? * Does it make any noises or talk?

These questions can spark children to add different things to their monster, such as an over-sized mouth for laughing. In addition, these adult-child interactions "promote children's reasoning and language skills ("Child-Initiated Learning Activities for Young Children Living in Poverty." ERIC Digest).

The teacher lets those who are skilled enough to cut to use the scissors themselves, and only intervenes if the child asks for help or appears to be getting frustrated. The same rule applies to the use of glue; for those who have not learned how to use an appropriate amount, the teacher squirts a small amount and gives the child a Q-tip to "paint" the glue on the plate, or she asks the child where he wants the glue on the plate and then applies it for him.

When the children are finished, each one can be happy with their ending project, as there is no "correct" way displayed. The project was truly the child's own creation, and he can take pride in the fact that he made it. Developmentally appropriate crafts for children can lead to many social and emotional benefits, in addition to learning how to manipulate materials.

Learn more about this author, Kimberly Yates.
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