Crafts don’t always go smoothly, paint and glue are eaten daily and yes tantrums happen, usually him but sometimes me too! I try to roll with it, sometimes we take a break half way through crafts we just walk away and go back when the time is right. Here he kept pulling up the newspaper I had taped down with painters tape and putting the tape in his mouth. Not to mention the green paint everywhere, including up his nose!

I can’t remember what craft he was supposed to be making here but as you can see he wasn’t doing it. Instead he was carefully placing the chalk onto his beloved John Deere tractor. A perfect example of why I try not to do crafts when time is limited.

I have framed this picture for family because it is my son in a nutshell, he celebrates his “exploration” with abandon. He knew I was too far away from him to stop him from pouring the lentils everywhere. He was right. I found lentils in my kitchen for months, usually with my feet. They hurt.

This was a post that never made it up. I was going to do a post about an airplane “Busy Bag” and all the fun things in it to keep him busy. It never got posted, he wouldn’t take it off his head and I gave up.

Does this look like a kid who is having fun? It was probably past time for me to give up and grab our coats.

As you can see we are not perfect, far far from it! I try to keep my expectations appropriate but I mess up , miss the mark and have bad days. Sometimes it’s better to abandon the craft , run outside and come in for a nap.  So if a craft tanks, or a pretty art project gets ruined , so what?! Try to follow your child’s interests and know that messes will be made and the goal isn’t a perfect project, it’s an interested and engaged child.