Craft Ideas
Crafts To Make For All The FamilySometimes it's ideal to set the children down at the table, give them a craft to work on and then enjoy the focused peace and quiet that lasts for about five minutes! Other times, it's more fun to have the entire family get involved in a craft project.
Family Fun with Crafts
Sometimes it's ideal to set the children down at the table, give them a craft to work on and then enjoy the focused peace and quiet that lasts for about five minutes! Other times, it's more fun to have the entire family get involved in a craft project. It creates a sense of togetherness, shows your children that you enjoy focused time with them, and the results of the project can be appreciated and enjoyed by everyone. Here are a few family craft projects to consider doing as a family.
Family Tree Projects:
Family trees are an excellent way to connect with your heritage and to teach your children about where they come from. Family tree projects can be created by making a collage from copies of old family photos. Depending on the age of your children you can also create a mural taking your ancestry back as far as you can. Smaller children will enjoy placing names or pictures on cut out green leaves and positioning them on a felt tree or a hand drawn tree.
Garden Crafts: Garden craft projects are exceptional because they not only allow your children to create something permanent they teach your children about growing and taking care of the planet. Projects can be as simple as creating small seedling planters and painting or decorating the containers to creating elaborate yard art. Bird baths, luminaries, stepping stones, and wind chimes are all fun projects for the entire family.
Pinatas and other holiday crafts.
Pinatas are a blast to make and even more fun to tear apart. Family members can join together to create a fun family decoration and party favor for an upcoming celebration or use the piñata as an excuse for a celebration! Pinatas require a balloon, paper mache tools, paint and candy or party favors inside. Children can be involved in the entire process while parents oversee it or parents can join in and get arm deep in sticky paper mache - it's fun! Of course letting it dry is the difficult part and a piñata usually takes several days to make. However the end result and the smile on your children's faces as they dive for the goodies as they tumble out is more than worth it.
Other holiday crafts include Christmas tree decorations, Halloween masks, and Earth Day tye dye t-shirts!
Family crafts are a great way to spend a rainy afternoon, a fantastic way to create a holiday tradition and always a superior way to connect as a family and give them memories and love.
Inspiring Your Kids to Be Creative on Their Own
Kids are often happy to do arts and crafts when the opportunity is presented to them. But given a choice, they often sit in front of the television or play video games. And even if we as parents do our best to organize creative activities, we often do not have as much time to spend crafting with our kids as we would like.
If you can get your kids to be creative on their own, that means less time spent on unproductive activities such as watching TV. But how does a parent go about that? Here are some thoughts on the subject:
* Make sure your kids see you doing the crafts you love. Answer their questions, show them how to do things, and let them give it a try if possible. If they're interested in what you're doing, there's a better chance that they'll eventually give it a try on their own.
* Get them craft kits for birthdays and holidays. If you can, get a kit that makes something they are already interested in. For example, if your daughter loves jewelry, buy her a jewelry making kit.
* Keep general craft supplies around the house. You never know when your child might get a wonderful creative idea, but if you're always prepared, he will be able to act on it when he does.
* When your child makes something for you, display it with pride. Hang her paintings on the refrigerator, keep the paperweight she gave you for your birthday front and center on your desk, and wear that macaroni necklace. If you can't bring yourself to wear it out of the house, at least hang it from your rear view mirror.
* Drop hints. Say things like, "I really loved that painting you did for the living room. It would be nice to have another one for my office." This will boost your child's confidence and encourage more creativity.
* Make stuff for your kids. They will feel special because you created something just for them, and more often than not, they will reciprocate.
* When a friend or family member has a birthday coming up, suggest that your child make the recipient something instead of buying a gift. Offer guidance if he asks, but otherwise, let him come up with his own ideas.
With the distractions of video games and other pastimes that do nothing to encourage independent thinking, getting your child to be creative on his own might seem impossible. But by limiting these distractions and making sure our children have the self-confidence and resources they need to create, we will often see an increased desire to do just that. And if they are creative when they are young, they will usually carry that with them into adulthood.
Everyday Stuff = Great Crafts
Children are fantastic when it comes to using their imagination. They're also pretty great about the three Rs, reduce, reuse, and recycle. Put those two ideas together and your children will have a ton of fun. Here's how to get them started.
Plastic Pop Bottles:
Butterflies- Grab a butterfly stencil, about four inches square for a large 2 liter bottle and 2 inches square for standard 12 oz bottles. Trace the butterfly onto the plastic and cut them out. Butterflies can be strung by piercing the center with a needle. Hang them outside for extra fun.
Ocean in a Bottle - This project works best with smaller 12 oz bottles. Fill half the bottle with clear non-toxic oil - like a light canola oil. Fill the remaining half with water. Add food coloring, glitter, small lightweight plastic items and confetti shaped like your child's favorite animal or shape and recap tightly. Let your child play with them to their heart's content.
Cardboard Tubes:
Rainsticks are a fantastic and fun way to spend rainy afternoons indoors. Not that you'd want to conjure up more rain! Supplies include:
o Masking tape
o Paper towel tubes
o Tempera paint
o Elmer's glue or other white craft glue
o Rice, lentils, or small beans
Paint the tubes first and allow to dry. Poke several very small holes, toothpick sized, into the tube. Cover one end of the tube with tape and place a small handful of rice or beans into the tube. Cover other end of the tube with tape and let them at it. Different materials, rice, beans, or lentils make different sounds. Encourage your children to make several and experiment with sounds.
There are a huge number of items around the house, items that normally end up in the garbage or the recycle bin that can be used to create an artistic masterpiece and hours of fun. Old egg cartons can be used to make tulips or bells. Tin foil can be washed and used to make picture frames. Old newspaper makes great paper mache, baby food jars are excellent containers for luminaries and snow globes. Tin cans make great planters for starting seeds just be sure to remove any sharp edges with a file.
Give your children the challenge to come up with ideas of their own. A paper grocery bag could become a suit of armor, a plastic bottle can become a wind sock or a piggy bank. They have amazing imaginations, creative thinking skills, and they're truly the experts at recycling and reusing materials around them.
Kids Craft Ideas
Toddler Crafts One thing that most toddlers have in common is that they love to make things. Simple projects keep their minds occupied and give them a sense of accomplishment. Crafting can also be extremely helpful in developing hand-eye coordination. Read more about Toddler Crafts
Halloween Crafts for Children
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Paper Crafts For Kids
Paper crafts are a popular pastime right now for kids. One well know Paper Craft for Kids is scrapbooking which is a fun way to display pictures and chronicle family history. Other paper crafts include making greeting cards and even making hand made papers.
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Winter Crafts For Kids
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