Our almost-5-year-old isn’t very interested in toys anymore. She’ll play with them for a few minutes (and longer when she’s by herself in her room during our afternoon quiet time,) but they just aren’t holding her attention for very long. And she often gets bored in the mornings unless I have arts and crafts for her to use.

I'm a big believer in self-directed play, but the craft supplies have to be kept out of reach because of the age of our youngest, and I'm having a harder time coming up with creative combinations of supplies on the fly. While the girls love to color and can stay engaged for an hour or more with just a coloring book and crayons, it gets old when that’s all you do.

Art Boxes and Encouraging Free Art

The art boxes we had were filled with a variety of supplies, and the girls were not really focusing on any one thing. They ended up bored because they played with the same supplies every day.

This summer I decided to try something new. I prepared each art box with five different free-art activities. Each day, I simply open the box and let them choose one for the day, and everything they need is ready to go. Because our 21-month-old is determined to be a big girl but not quite able to handle the same crafts as the older girls, her box is packed with similar-yet-toddler-friendly activities.

What’s in the Art Box?

The art boxes in a typical week contain activities such as:

• Crayons

• Foam shapes and glue for gluing, as well as foam sheets to cut additional shapes

• Play-Doh, cookie cutters and a kid-friendly knife

• Crayola paint brush pens

• A second foam sheet and some make-your-own-monster stickers

Benefits of Preplanned Activities

Taking a little bit of time over the weekend to prepare these boxes has made it easier to pull out crafts throughout the week. As an added bonus, because I set aside time to put the boxes together, I have time to look through all of our craft boxes for other activity ideas and long-forgotten project supplies. They end up neater and more organized rather than torn apart from rooting through them when I’m searching desperately for an idea that will hold the girls attention without making a huge mess.