There are thousands of craft ideas to choose from!
Budgets, library program schedules, the storytime space, age of storytime children, available preparation time, and staff preferences are just a few of the factors that influence which crafts are chosen to present at storytime. How should we be selecting which type of crafts to offer at literacy-based storytimes?
The second edition of Every Child Ready to Read highlights five practices that parents can use to build language and early literacy skills in their children. These practices are reading, writing, playing, singing, and talking.
In the report “Home Literacy Activities and Signs of Children’s Emerging Literacy,” researchers noted that children whose families did arts and crafts together were slightly more likely to demonstrate emerging literacy skills than children whose families did not. The researchers did not attribute this result to increased practice of fine-motor skills, but stated instead, “Doing arts and crafts with children may stimulate literacy through the extended conversations that often occur during such activities.”
What kinds of crafts foster this conversation and interaction between adults and children? Crafts that are open-ended and don’t have one specific result naturally support conversations, as children think out loud about what they are doing and make decisions about what to try next.
Blogs such as No Time for Flash Cards, Teach Mama, and Not Just Cute are full of wonderful open-ended art project and activity ideas, most of which unfortunately are just not feasible for use in many library’s storytime programs due to time or budget constraints. However, crafts and projects can be simple and inexpensive and still offer opportunities for conversation and an enriching extension of the storytime experience. In the coming weeks, we will share some specific project ideas. To begin with, here are general tips for encouraging creativity and conversation during simple storytime crafts:
Enjoy the Process. Look for ways to give children a chance to enjoy the process of creation instead of focusing on a finished product. Making something of their own can be much more satisfying to children than copying someone else’s sample project.
Offer Choices: When you can, select projects that are open-ended or can be successfully “completed” in more than one way. Exercising control is very satisfying to young children! Choosing a subject, selecting materials, and discussing their choices help children enhance cognitive skills that will help them become readers.
Don’t Model a Finished Product. Instead of showing the group a completed craft, show the materials and pieces they will be able to use and have a discussion about different ways they might use them. Then no one (grownups included!) will feel anxiety about whether their project looks like it is “supposed” to; instead families can talk about what they might try next.
Have Plenty of Supplies. In every craft time, construction paper pieces will tear, and glue will go where the child doesn’t expect. Providing more than enough pieces for everyone means each child can explore in the way that is meaningful to them without worrying if they are using too many supplies or not enough.
Let the Kids Do the Work. Encourage parents to have their children to work on their projects themselves, offering help only when the children are stuck or ask for assistance. The exploration and the conversation are the goals, not finishing in a certain amount of time or creating something that looks a certain way.
By focusing more often on the process than the product, we can provide fun and meaningful craft experiences. By encouraging interaction and conversation between the parent or caregiver and the child, we are offering opportunities for building early literacy!
This is part of a series of posts about the benefits of crafts in storytime.
In the next posts, we’ll discuss specific techniques for creating literacy-based crafts, and how those techniques help build the six early literacy skills of and engage families in the five practices of Every Child Ready to Read.
Resources:
“Art with Toddlers and Twos: Face the Fear!” by Maryann Kohl
“Why This is More Than Cute,” by Amanda Morgan
“Quick Tips for Parents,” from Americans for the Arts
“Art in Early Childhood: Curriculum Connections,” by Jill Englebright Fox and Stacey Berry
Home Literacy Activities and Signs of Children’s Emerging Literacy, 1993 and 1999