To think my dd's teacher is doing her artwork for her?

[MaMight]

Every week, my 3-yr-old comes home with her folder of artwork from the week. Much of it, well, I just don't believe she had much to do with it. I do lots of art and craft things with her at home and she just isn't that good at colour coordination and patterns.

Their big project this week was a 'family heart' which is beautifully decorated with purple sequins that dd cheerfully told me that "Miss Jane stuck on".

Last week they made a treasure box that was suspiciously evenly decorated with a variety of different shells and coloured wool.

She's three.

It's all bodged enough that you would think a pre-schooler had done it, but just that bit too good for me to believe that dd really did it. If she had really done it, it would be 3 inches thick with PVC glue, and mostly brown, with eight billion pieces of identical pasta stuck on the bottom left hand corner. Lovely.

Surely the children should be given free reign to actually do things themselves, and not guided to produce 15 very similar pictures to stick on the wall? Shouldn't it be about the process?

I hope the point of their artwork isn't to produce something nice to take home. Or is that an okay point? I really am asking.

And then I was wondering if there was value in being a part of creating a pretty display on the wall? Maybe IABU?

What do you think?

[Monsterspam]

Us teachers get bored don't cha know?!

[doingthelambethwalk]

YANBU but this seems quite normal at nursery. MIL loves to keep DS' "artwork" but I usually throw it out, I'm afraid, unless he tells me about doing it or we've done it at home, either way, so I know it's his.

Mind you he likes drawing with the nursery people so it doesn't bother me too much, I like to think it is a collaborative approach that helps him learn to share etc.

[mamas12]

I hate this too. It's not about your dc and his/her capabilities then is it?
When dd started a 'free er aproach in her nursery I remember her coming home andproudly showing me her large artwok and answered crossly when I asked 'what is it?'
'It's a hippopotamus underwater eating and egg!' of course.

[freakname]

Could it be that they are trying to teach the children some basics and hence the work is uniform in the hope that they apply these skills later to their own art work?

Some children don't get to do any art/creative stuff at home so maybe they do this to get everyone up and running?

I had some arty party experiences where the play leader had the kids doing every step along side so that they did end up with a uniform product albeit different colours.

Just a thought.....

[oldraver]

Next time you pick her up with a masterpiece say "ooh Miss Jane,didnt you do well" (out of DC earshot though)

[Elk]

dd2's nursery most definately don't do their artwork for them. Today I was given a sheet of paper with some red scribbles and that is about standard for dd2. At least dd1 used to put a few different colours on her sheets.

Today they made gardens, everybody else's children had beautiful green branches filled with leaves, dd2 had made an 'autumn garden' and cut all the leaves off hers!

[racmac]

YANBU I could have posted the same message. My DS4 has just started a new nursery and has come home with lots of pictures of flowers - which the teachers have drawn and coloured in - I said to him they are lovely but id rather have something you have drawn not something that the teacher has drawn.

Yesterday he came home with a picture of a bumble bee - all neatly coloured in! It most certainly isnt his art work.

I dont get it i dont want pictures that the teachers have drawn me - I want his pictures.

I did consider saying something but not sure whether to or not?

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

YANBU. My dd brought something home once when she was about 4. It clearly wasn't her work, she hadn't gone out of the lines - which she still does at 8. When I asked her about it she said she'd got bored so Miss X took over.

[Pyrocanthus]

My DH and I always used to say that the staff at our DDs' nursery churned out the artwork during their tea breaks. It was very heavily assisted and very uniform, until a new nursery manager came in with the idea that art materials should be made freely available to the children to make what they wanted, when they chose.

The technical quality of the work declined at first , but my elder DD's creativity really took off and she spent many happy hours there making and doing. Years later, she still loves making and designing things, drawing and painting.

I share your suspicions.

[PixiNanny]

Tombliboobs: That's so me, sitting there with the glue sticking away when the kid has walked off bored! If I ever do arts and crafts with my charge I HAVE to be doing my own to not touch hers But collage's get the worst treatment from me lol

[PixiNanny]

I avoid doing collagey-artwork with my 9yo charge because I have a tendency to 'correct' it for her without realising what I'm doing! It annoys the hell out of me that I do it so I'm sure that the teacher must feel the same

Though maybe some parents get annoyed that their children aren't producing masterpieces so teachers may try to make it look better to improve the look of their institution :P

[Tombliboobs]

YANBU
I once worked with someone that was like this. She would get so engrossed that the child would have wandered off and she would still be sat there gluing and sticking.

YANBU, it is unacceptable. The EYFS has tried to move away from a class full of replica pictures and more in to free flow creativity.

I can tell that DS has done his artwork