Craft Happy Kids

Automated PDF to Text preview page 4 to 6:

Craft Happy Kids
Little hands love to spend time making things, more than just a mess in the house. In fact, if your children love crafts, you may be wondering how to keep them craft happy throughout the year.

What types of supplies do you need? That's entirely up to you. You could get finger paints, clay, cotton balls, crayons, scissors, glue, glue sticks, markers, and colored pencils. You may also want to include various types of paper, stickers, glitter, or whatever supplies you need for a particular craft.


It doesn't matter what age your children are, there are crafts that toddlers can enjoy as well as teenagers and every age in between. Of course, for some crafts you'll want to stick close by to supervise, but many crafts can be done without adult supervision. Be sure to buy safety scissors and other crafts materials that are safe for younger children.

4

Why should you let your children enjoy crafts?
There are many reasons for letting your child spend time creating artwork or homemade items to share with family members. Here are a few:

·

It's rainy outside so your children have to stay inside. Before you know it you hear them starting to fuss and fight. Or they start whining, "Mom, I'm bored." If you have craft materials on-hand, you'll have something to give your children to do that will keep them occupied and less likely to keep whining about boredom. When the fall comes children often think about making gifts for family for the upcoming holidays. Let your children make bookmarks, clay pots, or anything else they may like to give to people they love. Who knows, they may find that making gifts is more fun than buying them to give each year. Many parents still believe that their children are given the time to enjoy arts and crafts while they're at school. Unfortunately the arts (art and music lessons) are usually the first programs to be cut when school systems have budget problems. Just because you have to purchase art supplies for your child at the beginning of the school year, that doesn't mean they actually get to use them at school If y
ou want your children to enjoy art, it may be up to you to have the materials available for your child to use. Take the time work with them on the craft even if it doesn't require adult supervision. You may find this is a great way to connect with your child on another level that you never have before.

·

·

·

Working on crafts as a family can bring your family together in a new way, as well. Maybe you can't devote a lot of time to crafting with your children, but you might want to schedule at least one day a month for family craft time. Perhaps you can work on a particular project or each person can work on their own project.

5

Crafts specifically for smaller hands
Smaller hands need larger crafts because they don't have the fine motor skills of children who are older. Allow them to work with hands-on materials such as chunky crayons and large sheets of paper. If you allow them to start using scissors, you'll want them to have safety scissors which will make injuring themselves much harder to do.

Paint Stamping

Here's one craft that will require adult supervision but it can be a lot of fun for your child who needs larger tools to work with: Make stamps to paint with using common garden potatoes.

Let your child decide what type of stamp they would like. Cut a potato in half to determine which size of design your child can use. You can make chunky designs such as apples, leaves, or the sun. Of course, Mom or Dad will have to cut out the designs because knives aren't safe for little hands.

Cover the table with newspaper to cut down on the amount of mess that's made. Then put child-safe finger paints into a tray or Styrofoam plate, but don't use too much at one time. Have the child press the potato into the paint and then firmly onto a piece of paper. Depending upon the amount of paint, they may be able to make more than one impression. They can then change the paint color and keep making impressions. If the potato becomes overly saturated or begins to break down, Mom or Dad can cut that part of the potato off and make an entirely new design.

6