Our preschoolers often create cute crafts for you to display on your refrigerator. Do we create crafts just for your "Frigadaire Gallery"? No...there is definite purpose to creating the crafts.
Creative art and crafts are different. The creative art space in our room is just that-creative. We do not tell the children what to do with the materials. We provide a wide variety of materials for them to use and let them have at it. Each painting, drawing and collage will look different. We are not concerned with the final product but want the children to enjoy the artistic process.
A craft is very different. All the children receive the same pieces. With slight variations, all the children's final product look very much the same. Our purpose in creating crafts with the children is for them to listen to their teacher and follow a specific set of directions. Sure it's chaotic at the beginning (mostly because glue is everywhere) but as the children develop an understanding of listening and following directions, we create crafts with more and more pieces. Look at the number of pieces on that penguin...that's a lot but they did great!
As we give directions, we are constantly reinforcing basic concepts. We discuss the shapes and colors of the pieces. We use positional words like top, bottom, above, below, between and inside.
When your child brings home a craft, talk about the colors, shapes and where things are located. Oh, and don't forget to hang it on the refrigerator!
