B was never particularly interested, whereas E is *always* asking to "draw, draw" or "stick, stick"
, so much of it just temperament I think. But with B there were a few things that worked well (and I lowered my expectations - so if he played for 3 minutes then great!). He's a bit more into things now and if I set something up will generally get involved - but if I ask him if he wants to do crafts then he usually says no
, and nursery have told me it's like getting blood out of a stone trying to get him to paint! *But* I think they will create in different ways and we just need to recognise that as being just as creative as the usual 'crafts' iyswim. B spends hours every day making 3d 'cities' with blocks, bricks, playmobil, tiles etc - and they are such amazing structures that I realised I needed to start taking photos of them and keep them as this is his creative outlet rather than things on paper.
But a few simple things he enjoyed were
- sticky back plastic (contact paper) attached onto an easel or a window with the sticky side facing out - give feathers, paper shapes or pieces of string and then stick them on.
- blackboard, chalk and some wet paintbrushes or small sponges
- here are some great playdough ideas though you've probably seen this site if you're on pinterest
http://www.theimaginationtree.com/search/label/Play%20Dough One thing Ben like was sticking uncooked spaghetti sticks into playdough and then 'threading' cheerios or beads onto them
- use whatever he's interested in as your starting point - e.g. cars/animal figures - and then let them paint with those to make track marks etc
- I bought some little felt shapes (cars....there was a strong theme!) and he enjoyed sticking those down if I put blobs of glue onto a piece of card
- painting with his feet - huge piece of paper and he'd paint his feet and walk around!