Why my projects in class aren't pinterest worthy and neither should yours be....

 If you are anything like me you check pinterest out for activities that you can integrate into your classroom. How often did I come across crafty ideas that looked so super awesome on the pics but when I made them...a complete disaster. 

Either because I had to do half of the work myself (pre-cutting things for 25 kids... Not fun! Or glueing / rearranging things later because the kids weren't able to do it the way it looks like in the pic...) 

When I was at the beginning of my teaching career and didn't know any better - actually that lasted for a decade or longer... I always thought I need to come up with the most amazing projects that the kids can proudly show to their parents and so the parents would be in awe of the wonderful things their kids were doing in class. Even if it meant that I'd have to do half the work. 

Now with time - more experience as a teacher but above all becoming a mum myself - I noticed that parents don't want to see fancy things from school. 

Actually, the prettier the things were my own kids brought home - and I knew it wasn't them who made it all - the more I felt kind of like cheated. 

I'm not interested in what the teacher can do. I want to see what my child can do. So why do you give me an arts project that's half done by my child and half by you? 

And if I'm completely honest... When the time comes to sort out drawings and crafts my kids did (what to keep and what goes into the bin, because as much as I would love to keep it all I'm not living in a castle with 37 bedrooms), then those crafts and drawings are the first that go into the bin. Even if the others were not as pretty maybe but at least they were done by my child. 

As a teacher I'm keeping things simple now. 

1. Because I know now that parents don't care about pretty or not. They care about their kids enjoying your lessons and that things are done by the hands of their kids. 

2. We are not helping a child's self esteem by giving them tasks to do that they can't handle yet. 

All they learn is that they can't do things yet and someone else can do it better. Or they learn that what they do is not good enough. Stay developmentally appropriate! 

So this is why in my pictures, you will not find any fancy things. And while they may not be as attractive or appealing to the eye when you research activities, I can assure you that those are activities preschool kids are able to do either on their own or with just a tiny bit of help or preparation.