Watch any toddler squishing some modelling dough or wielding a paintbrush and it is obvious how much they enjoy getting directly involved in arts and crafts activities. You do not have to work hard to encourage young children to get their hands into the paint or to go for some early mark-making with a thick crayon or chalk. The only exception is if under-threes have been given very firm messages within their family about not getting 'messy' or 'dirty'. Otherwise the main issue for children's enjoyment and learning is that adults do not get over-involved and direct the activity so much that children have no scope for creativity.
Arts and crafts for the under-threes, and especially the under-twos, can be sabotaged as a genuine learning activity if early years practitioners pursue the goal of a neat end product to a session. The problems tend to arise because adults want something to show in a wall display, to give to parents or to make into a tidy artistic result such as a card.
Good practice in a team will recognise that this approach blocks very young children's learning: their physical exploration through the senses, a growing ability to handle simple arts and crafts tools and any sense of personal accomplishment. If there is a genuine sense of pressure from parents, then you need to resolve this by explaining and showing parents how under-threes enjoy doing their activities. There is not always something left at the end, except happy faces.
Creative choices
Perhaps you may feel under pressure from parents who ask, 'So, what has she done today?' For this reason you are tempted to over-direct a foot-printing activity. The toddlers would have had a fine time foot-printing over a long roll of wallpaper on the floor. But this would not have produced individual pictures, so the toddlers are required to wait and make footprints on single sheets. This version is not as enjoyable for them, and adults will probably hold and direct their feet. The children will not have made the prints themselves, and they will probably get cranky waiting their turn.
An alternative for any large-scale art activity is to take photos as the children do their printing, make bold chalk marks on the appropriate wall space, or experiment with dough models that will last only a short while before they are shaped into something else. You can then make a wall display of the photos, with short written explanations as one form of communication with parents. Some photos can also go into a child's individual portfolio as a record of what they have enjoyed and explored. The photos will be a pleasure for the family and children themselves as they get older.
If toddlers indicate that they want a drawing or a sticky collage kept safe, or say, 'this is for Daddy', then that is fine. The child has made a choice and the craft production is really theirs. It is a very different situation, however, if adults tell children what to draw or stick and 'rescue' the end product before it gets 'spoiled'. It is sensible to back some work to help it to last. But if adults have done a great deal of tidying up work, complete with fancy borders and writing, then arts and crafts cease to be the creative output of under-threes.
Babies and toddlers do not have to make Mother's Day or Divali cards just because it is part of the theme being followed by the three-and four-year- olds. One-and two-year-olds do not yet understand what such an activity is all about, and parents will be just as charmed with an unadorned sponge printing that their 18-month-old has actually done.
Mutual appreciation
Very young children like to make their own works, but they also like to look, touch and appreciate two-and three-dimensional objects made by others. Watch and listen to very young children who are looking at pictures, printed cloth, textured collages or photos. Observe how they gaze at mobiles or wind chimes and are eager to touch or stroke different kinds of models. As a supportive adult you can join in with them, showing that you too like to examine a picture for details or experience the textures of a wall collage or wooden sculpture. You can introduce appropriate language as you look and the words will begin to make sense to the child because they are directly connected to something of interest.