Illustrated Teacup

Family | Lifestyle | Food | Tattoos | Southampton

Monday, 17 July 2017

Crafts with a baby - they rarely meet the expectations


I always imagined how life would be with a little one, especially when I was pregnant. 
Of course, like any expectant mother (or father) I focused on all the positives like cuddles, first steps, playing together and crafting together. 
Now the latter of these is what I want to focus on today. 


In my head I pictured giggling child, mucking about with paint and printing perfect hand and feet prints on paper, moving onto potato painting, maybe a little finger painting and leaf prints. All perfectly charming and calm, a nice little bonding and sharing experience. 




Well the thing is, the reality really doesn't live up to the dream. 
At the very least it's an entirely different experience, though not necessarily a bad one, but definitely different, and usually far more stressful, and far less calming and peaceful.

On the day I took these photos, I decided to do some painting with Henry as we were cooped up in the house due to rain (yep rain in June) and I wanted him to contribute to his thank you notes that I was about to send out from his birthday - start as you mean to go on! 

We got some paint out and poured it into a tray for Henry to dip his hands in, and then pressed his hand on the thank you cards. All was doing alright, until I needed to add more paint and it started getting messy, very quickly. Plus, it's easy to forget that he enjoys putting his finger in his mouth and on his face, so the paint quickly went everywhere. Then of course he decided to crawl off. Leaving trails of paint behind him... 

So no, we didn't have the lovely chilled half hour of painting and sensory exploring I imagined. 
But it was absolutely fun. 
And did give me the chance to get our Lion Poncho* out and get some adorable photos of Henry drying off after a quick afternoon bath, which he happily chilled in whilst I mopped the kitchen floor! 




So will I be crafting with my one year old again?
Yes of course, but I'm definitely lowering my expectations of calm, and running a bath beforehand too!

What have your crafting experiences been like?

*PR sample
Share:

7 comments

  1. This was always my expectation before having my children too. How do they manage to put paint everywhere?! He looks so cute in his poncho xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mine are normally pretty similar! I'm in awe of the Pinterest mums who manage to create picture perfect crafts when my experiences always end up with more paint on the baby and the floor than anywhere else haha!

    ReplyDelete
  3. H looks so cute in his little lion towel. I remember doing painting with Jasmine around the same age as H is now. We used glittery gold and silver paint which I still found evidence of around the house for years after!! I leave the crafts to nursery now. ;)

    Jenna at Tinyfootsteps xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh no messy baby! Totally the fun of it though xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Haha, I always leave crafts like this for other people's houses or nursery/ play groups. Bad mummy I know but I honestly freak out at the mess!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. From experience, crafting is better when the child is older and can follow instructions haha, I wouldnt dare do anything with my 15 month old, shell end up eating a load of paint and poo out a picture

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is why we left super messy play until Willows was a bit older ha! xo

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comment.
They are always appreciated and always read.

Blogger Template Created by pipdig