Toddler art is great to display

This isn't a new idea or even my idea but I wanted to document this idea in my blog because I think it is fabulous.

I am often asked for activities that toddlers can do that will also be great to display. Sometimes this is referred to as "refrigerator art." I hesitate to focus too much on refrigerator art because first and foremost I want to express  how important it is to make sure theprocess of creating is emphasized more than the outcome.





Process over product is a term used over and over again by early childhood educators in hopes to help parents and others realize that young children learn through the doing. In my last post I shared the experience of Wy discovering the tools to create and exploring the process. In this post, Wy explored the process of painting with Q-tips which resulted in a colorful non-distinctive painting (shown above).

This painting (shown above) was another simple painting Wy created using sponge brushes. This painting may not look like a masterpiece but it can be displayed to look like a masterpiece and yet still preserve the process that Wy explored.

I took an old picture frame I had around the house.

Chose the part of the painting I wished to display and then trimmed around the edges to fit the back of the frame.

I then inserted the painting into the frame which resulted in a terrific piece of art to display and yet the learning process was preserved!

After trimming away the edges of the painting, I had one of Wy's little hand prints left over.

I cut out the hand print, dated it, and gave the handprint to Wy's daddy which he gently folded up and tucked into his wallet.