Q&A: Navigating Art With Siblings
Reader Question:
“The difficulty I have is my daughter (5 years) as much as she loves to do art/craft like her brother (18months) there are times where she just wants to do something more grown up or even different to her brother. How would you plan this so they can do it side by side?”
When I sent out a recent reader survey, the issue of siblings came up again and again. So I am going to respond to this specific question, but also share some tips that will hopefully cover the other sibling questions that have been raised. Overall, it seems that the biggest struggle when it comes to siblings and art is managing multiple ages, abilities, and attention spans.
My Answer:
Rather than trying to adapt your toddler art activities to your 5-yr-old, why not try adapting your 5-yr-old activities to your toddler? See what kinds of arts/crafts your 5-yr-old wants to do and offer your toddler the same materials in a different way. For example, I did a fabric collage & embroidery project with a group of 6-yr-olds and was able to adapt this project for my 3-yr-old. The big kids drew an image on a canvas, embroidered the lines of the image, glued fabric onto the canvas, then added paint at the end. For my 3-yr-old, I offered her the same materials (I used an old pre-used canvas because we had run out of the other ones) but rather than do the embroidery, she just glued the thread onto the canvas along with the fabric. As long as you are closely supervising your toddler, he can explore almost any material that his big sister is using.
Below you can see my 6-yr-old’s work alongside my 3-yr-old’s work using the same materials.
You can also try having a go-to toddler activity on-hand for when your daughter is doing her own project. What are your son’s favorite activities that are easy to set-up quickly? Sometimes having a ready made sensory tray is good for this. If it is really engaging he might not need your attention as much so you can be freed up to help your daughter.
If you toddler really wants to do what his big sister is doing, you can give him a tray that has a combination of fun sensory materials with some of the materials from your daughter’s project.
Another option is to have your 5-yr-old work on more advanced activities while your toddler is napping. This way you can give your full attention to your daughter.
Tips For Other Sibling Questions
Many of the struggles that people have when it comes to siblings and art have to do with accommodating different interests, abilities, and attention spans. Although you can’t make these struggles disappear completely, they can become less of an issue when kids are given freedom and autonomy in their art making. When children are familiar with their art supplies and they are free to use them whenever inspiration strikes, there aren’t as many battles around doing art. Art becomes woven into their daily lives as an extension of their play, rather than something that only happens when an adult brings out supplies and facilitates a project.
It’s All About The Set-Up
The right set-up can help alleviate a lot of the issues that parents have with kids of different ages, all trying to explore art together. This is most important when you have a toddler who isn’t ready to have free access to some of the older sibling’s materials. Set up your art space so that there are toddler-friendly supplies at toddler height and supplies for older kids out of your toddlers reach. This allows for each child to have free access to age-appropriate art supplies.
When my oldest daughter, Karuna, was 4 she had a small art desk in the corner of our living room with supplies on top of the desk. When her little sister, Ora, began pulling herself up and grabbing the supplies, we bought ourselves some time by mounting an Urbio organizer to the wall so that her 1 yr old sister couldn’t reach them anymore. You can see my post about it here.
As soon as Ora began climbing onto the art table to reach the supplies, I knew it was time to give her access to her own age-appropriate materials. We turned half of our converted porch/sunroom into their art space and added shelving on the wall for their supplies. the low shelf and baskets on the floor held supplies for Ora to explore, while the higher shelves held supplies that Karuna could reach. At this stage, I made sure to keep a close eye on Ora in the art studio (so she could use the same materials as Karuna, with my supervision), but the shelving system allowed them to still have independence around choosing materials.
I used this same approach when I taught toddler/preschool age art classes. The toddlers always had free access to the supplies on the lower shelves and that kept them busy and excited to explore. I kept it interesting by switching these materials out every once in a while. If they noticed something that was on a higher shelf, they were able to use it with adult help/close supervision.
More Tips
- When you put out supplies for toddlers in their reach, only fill the containers with a few materials. When your toddler inevitably dumps everything out, the clean-up won’t feel so daunting.
- If you have an active climber who will climb the shelves or stand on chairs, you might want to try putting your older child’s materials in a hard to open cabinet or bin. This isn’t ideal for your older child, but it could be a temporary solution.
- Keep the supplies on a rolling cart and only bring them out when your toddler is napping or strapped in a high chair.
- One thing that has worked for some families is to use a baby gate to section off an art space from a crawling baby. You can also let your older child work with art supplies independently while you play with the baby or toddler in another room. The photo below shows an art area in a playroom that is sectioned off with a baby gate so the older kids can use the art area while the baby plays in the rest of the room. You can add a baby gate to a doorway or close off section of your kitchen as well.
Remember, this stage won’t last long. Before you know it, you’re little ones will be working happily alongside their big siblings. The more young children are allowed to explore and learn how to use the tools and materials safely, the sooner they will be able to work cooperatively with older siblings.
Have you tried any of these tips? How did they work for you? Do you have any tips to share? Keep this conversation going in the comments below so we can all learn from each other.
