Speaking of preschool and Valentine's day cards

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to "make" cards with my 2 year old. He seems to do a lot of wonderful artsy things at school, but shows little interest when we're sitting there doing stickers, coloring, etc. He plays along for a bit, but doesn't really color. Tears up the stickers more than puts them on a paper, etc. So if I'm cutting them out, writing the message, and he sticks a sticker and maybe makes some marks here and there, is it really a card from him? Would you just scoff at it and think gee thanks lady? I was hoping this would be fun for him but now I feel like it's just me doing crafts! Thoughts? And really, where is a two year old "supposed" to be as far as doing crafts at this point?

[Anonymous]

My two year old doesn't. He likes putting stickers on things, and scribbling, but that's about it.

[Anonymous]

Cut out some heart shapes and let him make his mark on them (scribble, sticker etc...)

Two year olds should have the opportunity to explore with crayons, markers, finger-paints with out having to worry about the end "product"

I was a preschool teacher for many years. I observed many teachers doing 80% or more of a child's art work and even correcting it!

Just let him have fun.

If your stressing about Valentine's store bought is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you just scoff at it and think gee thanks lady?

This line stood out for me. Not that this is the case, but it sounds like you are trying to impress someone. Who is the audience for the cards? I can't imagine any potential recipients (playmates, teachers, grandparents, neighbors) criticizing his contributions.

I agree with the other posters that allowing him to have fun with art is key. It is possible that his efforts at school are mostly not his own if they're so different from what you see. Make sure that you're providing an environment where he won't feel judged (VERY important given the concern you stated above about being scoffed at!) and controlled. If you want to guide the project, provide a few Valentine's themed supplies (hearts cut out, stickers) or paper and crayons of Valentine's color palette (red, pink, purple, white), and let him have fun.

FWIW, my 3.5-year-old and I are making cards. He decided to make specific cards for specific people, but not all kids do that.When he decorates them, some have a ton of stickers, some have a few scribbles, some have globs of glitter. Most important, he's enjoying it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So if I'm cutting them out, writing the message, and he sticks a sticker and maybe makes some marks here and there, is it really a card from him?

Your expectation seems very high to me. It's from him, because he is giving them to his classmates. Just like if you bought a box of Diego valentines at the store and put his name on the backs.

It's the act of giving, not the act of making, that counts.

[Anonymous]

I guess I am a grouch. I was pretty pissed to get an assignment from kindergarten that I had to 1) decorate a mail box for my child to receive valentines and 2) provide a valentine for every kid in the class. I was given a list of names and told it was good "writing practice".

I read to my child every night, but I am a single mom, have a demanding baby and a demanding job, and I was not too happy about buying these packs of valentines and filling them out. They won't allow a celebration of Xmas, Easter, or even Halloween, but this they make me do....

An older mom warned me years ago that homework "projects' are really for the moms. I see it now.

[zumbamama]

Last year I printed out little Valentine messages on my inkjet. I cut them up into rectangles, and cut up slightly larger rectangles out of construction paper. I had DS glue the messages to the colored paper with glue stick, and then he added the Dear xxx, From xxxx. They LOVE stickers, so a few stickers on it and BAM...done! It took about 20 minutes.

At that age, they might not be so into coloring. But if you want to encourage them to color, I find that when I sit down and start drawing, they will try too. Seeing mommy draw pink kitties motivates them to try!

[Anonymous]

I am not doing them for my 2 YO's class.

They sent home names but I am not wasting my precious time. If I have a spare 20 minutes between now and Friday, I would love to fold the laundry.

[zumbamama]

The Valentine's project is nothin' compared to the science project due in 2 weeks. But hey, it's bonding time.

[Anonymous]

I agree that the whole point for the little ones is he pride of having something and then giving it to someone else. My youngest (2) had a blast before winter break passing out cookies to everyone in his school and then went down the street and handed out the extras to complete strangers. Lesson learned- he had something great but he shared and made other people happy.

As for the kindergarten boxes etc...

While I understand that the purpose is the writing excercise I wish that the school would have assigned it earlier (say January 2nd) and helped the kids who clearly needed it.

The boxes? I gave my older ones some shoe boxes, put paper down on the table, and dumped all of the craft things we had and let them have at it. When my daughter asked why her aluminum foil Dora sticker and glitter glue creation wasn't as pretty as some other kids I told her that hers was pretty. Maybe other kids had help from parents but hers was special because it was her own.