Crayon keep going
1–2 yearsEmotional WellbeingMaterials: Large crayons, paper
Give your child a large crayon and paper. As they scribble, they'll naturally drop the crayon or make marks they didn't intend. When this happens, narrate what you see. You dropped the crayon. Here it is. Or the crayon made a big mark. You can make more marks. This simple acknowledgment helps them understand that small frustrations are part of creating.
Part of the Imprint developmental journey — personalized to your child.
How to Do This Activity
Give your child a large crayon and paper. As they scribble, they'll naturally drop the crayon or make marks they didn't intend. When this happens, narrate what you see. You dropped the crayon. Here it is. Or the crayon made a big mark. You can make more marks. This simple acknowledgment helps them understand that small frustrations are part of creating.
Why It Works
Creative activities naturally involve mistakes and do-overs, making them perfect for resilience building. Your calm response to dropped crayons or unexpected marks teaches that setbacks don't require distress. Children with multi-domain resilience profiles showed significantly higher skills across multiple areas, demonstrating that early resilience building has broad developmental benefits (Oh et al., 2022).
Tips for Parents
Don't rush to pick up dropped crayons immediately. Give your child a chance to problem-solve retrieval themselves.
Avoid judgmental language about their scribbles. Every mark is part of the process.
Model resilience by scribbling alongside them. If you make a mistake, say something like oops, I'll keep drawing and continue.
Materials Needed
Large crayons, paper
Learning Methods
Hands-On ExplorationLanguage-Rich Environment
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