To leave it to nursery?

[leaveittothelemon]

I do want my child to be school ready.

But AIBU to leave all painting, craft, drawing and so on to nursery? or should I really be trying to do this at home?

Definitely leave anything that involves glitter to nursery!!

I’m still having therapy from when someone who secretly hates us bought kinetic sand as a Christmas present!

I think the problem is DS not being bothered so then we end up with crayons on the floor and so on. I like sticker books but he doesn’t!

If he's at nursery two days a week, that's five days out of seven he's not getting any sort of creative play. He needs free access to drawing and writing materials and other fine-motor activities. He should be doing some sort of making/doing activity every day. Baking, clay work, painting, junk modelling, cutting and sticking, collages, kinetic sand, water play...these are all brilliant for developing the hand-eye coordination he'll need to build on for writing in a few years. They are also brilliant for building self-esteem and confidence and problem solving. It can be a slog for parents, but cleaning up children's messes is part of being a parent.

To add to @sprigatito post, those activities strengthen the muscles in the fingers to help with writing (hold the pen properly, write the letters etc) and are very important.

Sorry, can't edit.

Should do some MARK making and leave the ARTY stuff to them

Ah, gotcha 👍🏻

Hi,
I'm a childminder.
To be school ready is an independent child who can take on and off their own shoes/coat/hat and look after their belongings. A child who can toilet themselves, feed themselves, ask for what they need. Get along and play with other children. Have some physical skills like zipping their coat, holding a pen, making marks with meaning, catch a ball, ride a trike. Be emotionally ready, leave you without too much upset, play with others, be aware of how they are feeling. Speak in sentences, ask questions and wait their turn to answer. They should be able to sit for 10 mins or so and listen and enjoy learning new things. If you go to a playgroup on days off and encourage what I'd consider normal pre school things like bikes, playdough, climbing, construction, friendships then all will fall into place 🙂

What about messy stuff in the garden?

We do crafting at home but not painting inside.

Playdough is a hard floor activity here, so is anything with sequins or lots of cutting. Get a tough tray or a builders tray (much cheaper and basically the same) and a large wipe clean tablecloth for the floor if you are worried about mess.

Painting is an outside activity here ATM as DD is only just really getting to grips with paintbrush control and not spilling and dripping paint everywhere. So is any "messy play" ie shaving foam, rice, goop etc. water play is also an outside only activity. She has painting, messy and water play at nursery so i don't feel bad we restrict it at home in the winter. We also attend messy play sessions at our local soft play and playgroup in the winter - see if there are any around you? This is much more preferable than messy play in the house IMO. Take a puppy pad or towel to sit on for the car seat on the way home. Take a flannel to wash down with in the toilets for after the messy play session and carrier bag for dirty clothes.

Also to add that in my experience - when children start school, they have a phase of mark making, artwork etc so be prepared for when this comes to provide alot of resources to encourage it. Have you heard of imagination tree? Worth a follow on insta

They’re going to a messy play session in march so will see if they enjoy it. Garden is a good idea when the weather improves although the outdoor toys will probably be more alluring!

Painting etc can be really really messy.

Best as summer activities in the garden in my view.

Colouring etc is fine inside. "Baking" was done only when I felt my nerves could stand it.

We did do some gardening as well and grew tomatoes etc which was popular.

So some activities we have done over the past month are

Been to various groups although he’s outgrowing the groups aimed at toddlers a bit now.
Swimming - weekly lessons
Trips to park on balance bike / scooter plus playing on playground
Feeding ducks
Stories
TV (I never said I was perfect!)
Trips to a role play place
soft play (ugh)
Library visits
Trip to a wildlife park
Climbing wall place

So its not perfect and he does have two preschool sessions and two nursery where he accesses some craft stuff.