Go Outside!

Weather permitting, art and craft is much more fun outside. There is inspiration in natural surroundings and mess-making is not an issue. If you are lucky enough to have an outdoor area, schedule your art sessions there. This tip is suitable for painting, drawing, clay, playdough and other crafts.

Process Not Product

You may have heard this tip before but it is worth repeating. Art with preschoolers is about the PROCESS not the PRODUCT. It is important that they feel the dough, see the colour, touch the textures, and improve their fine motor skills while learning to glue, build, use scissors, and draw or paint detail. Whether they create a fine sculpture or magnificent masterpiece is beside the point. Learning and creating needs to be fun, especially for preschoolers.

Gift Wrap from the Heart

What child doesn`t love to paint & glue? Involve your child when giving a gift. Have them paint on butcher´s paper and when their creation is dry, paste on some glue and let them sprinkle glitter onto it. This will be wrapping paper from the heart and the child will feel they have contributed to the present.

Help with fear of the dark

The darkness of the night can be scary. Empower your child by giving him a flashlight which he can keep in bed. The child will have a feeling of control in his environment and will soon learn that the noises in the night really aren´t monsters.

Waking kids up happily

When it is time for your child to wake up, say "Good morning," and then grab one of her favorite books and begin reading it to her. This will help her wake up slowly and peacefully. The morning reading can turn into a fun ritual. She will be fully awake by the end of the book and the day will be off to a great start.

Teaching your child his name

If you can teach your child to read his or her name before Preschool, and label her possessions clearly, it will save a lot of confusion for all concerned. If your child isn´t ready to learn to recognise his or her name, you could use a symbol or their initials.

Buy Supplies In Bulk

If you can afford to, buy paint and glue in bulk containers, this saves on wasted packaging and money. Bulk art supplies can be bought from toy stores, craft suppliers, educational suppliers. A lot of educational suppliers have online shopping or mail order catalogs.

No Supplies? Virtual Art...

If you´ve no art supplies at home and want something creative for your preschooler to do, try a "Paint" program on your pc. There are plenty of shareware and freeware versions available from places like ZDnet and Tucows.

Help your child relax before sleeping

Want an easy way to help your child unwind and go to sleep? Establish a routine of playing the same musical tape or CD every day before nap or every night before bed. Your child will begin to associate the music with sleep and will relax when the music is on. Be sure to only play the particular CD or tape before bed for best results.

Bed Wetting

While most children are potty trained by the time they are three to four years old, wetting the bed at night (nocturnal enuresis) is still a common problem for many six to eight year old children (affecting about 8% of eight year olds). It is more common in boys and in families in which one or both parents wet the bed as a child.

Bedwetting may be caused by your child having a small bladder capacity (meaning it can not hold as much urine as children who do not wet the bed), not being able to tell when his bladder is full, or during times of stress. Very rarely is bed wetting caused by a disease or physical problem.