Wednesday 20 March 2013

Crafting problems with young children

I'm starting to have a bit of an issue when I do crafts with the children. We often just do some simple things - we get out the glue and stick pictures onto coloured paper or we get out the paints and mix colours and paint toilet roll tubes and boxes. I also like getting out the play dough and the cutters.

The problem that I have is that Mia just tries to eat everything. If I give her a pot of glue and a glue spreader she will eat it as eagerly as if I've given her a bowl of ice cream and a spoon. If I give her a paintbrush she has it in her mouth within seconds. If I give her a lump of play dough she nibbles at it like biscuit dough.

I remember the first time I gave Harry all these things, they went in his mouth, I said "No, not in your mouth" and he never did it again. Mia has had all these things multiple times and it just keeps going in. I'm sure that it can't be doing her much good!

It's difficult because Harry can now occupy himself for a good amount of time, and I want to join in with him. But I have to remove Mia and put her down on the floor, where she whinges and tries to climb back up, meaning that our creative sessions keep having to be cut short. Now that she no longer naps I don't have any opportunities to do these things with Harry without her being around.

Any tips? Or do I just have to wait for her to grow out of it?

Update - I asked around for advice and received lots! So I wrote a blog post sharing the tips and you can read it here - Crafting with the toddler that eats everything!

Crafting problems with young children

8 comments:

  1. My daughter is exactly the same. My son never bothered with eating it. She eats sand, playdoh, glue, paint, paper. Anything. A friend even asked if I was making her a sand and playdoh birthday cake! No helpful advice I am afraid. Just know you are not alone!

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    1. Glad to hear that it's not just me, thank you!

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  2. Following this eagerly as Felicity has always put everything in her mouth, mud, stones, paints, salt dough!! Very interested to see if anyone has any tips as I am reluctant to do crafting now as I worry about what she is eating!!

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    1. It puts me off crafting too, which is a shame because I love doing these things but I can't just let her eat everything!

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  3. Syd eats everything too, I think we just have to wait for them to outgrow this phase sadly!

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    1. I hope she outgrows it soon, glad I'm not the only one!

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  4. Could you make everything edible, then it doesn't matter if she eats it? Then when she is bigger you can move her onto the less tasty stuff. You can make glue that is safe to eat simply with flour and water (or more complex for better results), and homemade playdough can be edible. :)

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    1. That's a very good idea, we have made playdough but I didn't think of making some glue with flour, we used to do that when I was little!

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