Art, Toddlers, Independence and Mess

[shelivesthedream]

ToddlerSLTD is 2y5m old and very good at playing by himself (when he feels the inclination). We have it set up with the current selection of toys in baskets on the floor so he can get them out and put them away by himself. I am LOVING THIS, and feel like we have set him up for successful independence with this. We have a few rules about playing nicely (e.g. "balls are for throwing, cars are not for throwing") but the physical environment is such that there's just not much to worry about if he's left unsupervised while I get on with my stuff or deal with BabySLTD. I would like to do the same with art but can't figure out how to. We live in a rented house with a slightly uptight landlady and while I am aware that walls can be cleaned, I reaaaaaallllly don't want to spend my time trying to remove toddler "art" from anywhere.

He likes drawing but as yet it has been HIGHLY supervised. He has crayons and coloured pencils (which he prefers) but has to ask for me to get them out and I make sure he doesn't draw on anything except paper. I would like to have a setup where he can decide to do drawing and manage the whole process by himself. We have a little Ikea desk and chair (Sundvik) which is a bit big but he can climb up OK, and I thought we could make it into a little "drawing area" with paper, pencils and maybe some other supervision-free-suitable materials. (Though I don't know what they should be!) I figure at the moment I'll save the really messy stuff like finger painting for nursery school ;) I'd like it to be usable now but to grow with him - and to bear in mind that someday his little sister will want to use it too. And also to just be for open-ended access rather than official "craft projects".

How can I set us all up for success here so he can be maximally independent and minimally messy, while also expanding the range of art stuff he has access to? I've had a lot of success improvising storage solutions from our recycling bin, so am more interested in ideas than products, iyswim.

[expatartist]

Hi SLTD, after a half dozen years as artist-in-residence at international schools, when working with students in a classroom situation (rather than a large artwork they help me with) I tend to start from an art materials approach, give as few directions as possible, and see what they make. They nearly always blow my mind.
An art teacher once told me, when I was starting out: "keep it to dry media and you'll be fine". With toddlers even more so. Colored pencils etc should be fine. All washable materials if possible (crayola etc tend to be truly washable as well as 100% nontoxic). Dry pastels may be ok once a bit older, oil pastels no. I'd encourage options for 3D work, maybe paper clay as they get older. Paper collage with white glue and brightly colored papers, kids adore that. It helps with spatial cognition and arranging shapes and colors. And doubtless many other things a real art teacher or child expert would understand well.

At any rate, the most important ingredient is you. That you're giving them permission and encouraging them. Have fun!

[I'm a red panda]

My daughter has had easy access to her play doh since she was 2 1/2. 
She has to ask for crayons (after a wall coloring incident), her dot paint markers, or her color wonder markers (OMG that paper is so expensive).

We typically do crafts like beads when the baby is sleeping, because of the choking hazard. She likes to make bracelets by putting them on pipe cleaners.

[mntnmn117]

With our kids between ages 3 to 10 now they would always use the crayons and pencils where they shouldn't until about 4 yo. Well even the 5yo will draw on things she shouldn't but at least has a good excuse now. The washable markers really do work amazing. Unsupervised and two year old don't really mix.

I realized you said no products but for unsupervised "art" we used these Melissa & Doug Water Wows. They paint with water, completely reuseable and refillable. Not real "art" but no mess. Dry them out at night, ready to go in the morning.

[CNM]

Not sure if at that age there is 100% supervision-free art possible!

One low-mess, low-supervision option is making color mixing bags.  Take at least 2 pots of finger paints.  Any work, but ones that combine into a third color (i.e. red and yellow, red and blue) are especially nice.  Put the paints in a clear ziplock bag, squeeze out the air, and close. The idea is to get the bag to lay flat. Tape the top of the bag as well to avoid opening. Taped the sealed bag to a table.  The kid can poke and squeeze to combine the colors and make cool swirls.

Another lower-mess, lower-supervision project is to get a large piece of paper.  Paper that comes as packing material is good, as they are often over-sized.  Cardboard from an old box works too. Tape it down to a table or floor.  Get out crayons and scribble galore!

[starbuck]

We've had great success with painting a wall section with chalkboard paint and generally having chalk accessible for when the coloring mood strikes. If they get carried away with the chalk, it's easy to have them clean it up themselves with a wet rag. In our last house, we painted a full wall in a hallway so adults could use the upper half for lists and notes. In our current house there was the perfect end on a cabinet that we painted so the kids could come doodle but not be underfoot.

I've had good success with my 22 mo old with covering the kids table with brown kraft paper and putting a jar of colored pencils or crayons on top. She can doodle and work her fine motor skills, and sometimes the older sibling will come and join in. And then they fight over the jar or some other such nonsense and the jar gets put back in the cabinet for a few days. Rinse, repeat. Anything beyond that requires too much supervision to be left out for me.

When they're older (everyone at school aged) I would like to embrace this 'real art supplies are always available' set up and work it into our lives, but for my sanity it's still quite a few years away.

[Sibley]

If you can handle the noise - musical instruments. Drums, xylophones, rain makers, etc. You can make them yourself. But I completely understand if the noise won't work.

[Cranky]

Buy washable crayons and markers and a big pack of Magic Erasers.

I used to set up a couple of “stations” for my kids every day, with a small selection of materials to use.

[Allie]

I know you aren’t interested in products, but I took a slow and steady approach to letting my Dd use art supplies.  At 2, to be independent and not make a mess, I had some colorwonder products and a water tablet...which is a board that you can color on with special pens that you just fill with water.  She had unrestrained access to these at all times, no worry about mess.  It wasn’t until 3-4 that I could give her other un-messy art supplies and not worry about some level of supervision. 

In our house, when my Dd would get new art stuff, it would start in a cabinet that she had to ask to access and I’d supervise, then, if she could show she was careful with it I would let her use it without supervision, then if she was still careful, she’d get it moved to a cabinet that she could access on her own.  Since she loves art, this was an ongoing process for us...crayons to markers to sharpies and fine line pens...color wonder to watercolor to tempera to acrylics...stickers to glue sticks to bottle glue...Glitter is not allowed in my house.  Along the way she’d learn how to set up to use the medium, what she needed to clean and how, what could get stained, etc. 

But, art was my dds favorite thing, so it was a daily activity and we always had some sort of art activity going, supervised or unsupervised. 

[FireLane]

I know you said you were more interested in ideas than in products, but we've had success with something like this:

https://www.crayola.com/splash/products/ColorWonder

The markers only work on the specially treated paper and won't make marks on anything else. It's a way for little kids to color that requires minimal adult supervision.

[GreenQueen]

Very interesting thread. Just moved to a new house and our high-energy, high attention needs 3 yr 9 mo old immediately claimed the closet in her room as her “clubhouse” (it has a sensor light that turns on when door is opened and a door with glazed glass so semi-see-through).

We put her chalkboard / marker easel in there with chalk and just added a used small wooden table and chairs. She has paper and crayons and is spending tons of time in there drawing. Tons! On her own. It’s so wonderful. I think having a small private-ish space makes a big difference.