Crafting With Young Children
When crafting with young children, don’t worry about perfection. All that matters is they have fun and are happy with the result.
- Crafting with a group of young children? Pre-cut all pieces to make assembling the craft much easier.
- Learn to be flexible when crafting with young children. Sometimes projects are too complicated. Be prepared to modify as you go along.
- Turn your piggy bank painting craft into a money saving lesson. Talk to the kids about what they plan to save their money for.
- Kid Craft, Learning and Gift Idea – Calendars. Having children create a calendar for the family is a great gift idea and it helps reinforce the sequencing of months, days, seasons and holidays.
- Lettered beads make fun crafts and can help children develop spelling skills, so have fun with them. Kids can put together a variety of words before they make their final jewelry piece.
- Teach children scissor safety. Never run with scissors, use them only at a table and pass them by holding the tightly closed blades.
- Instead of asking children what they have drawn, engage them in a discussion. Ask them to tell you something about their painting or compliment them on certain aspects.
- Natural clay needs water, but not too much. If you’re using natural clay with young children, soak a paper towel and show the children how to squeeze out a bit of water on their hands. Then they can place their wet hands on the clay to moisturize it.
- Use washable inkpads when crafting with children. They will inevitably stamp their hands, arms and even their legs.
- By nature, most children will not wind down their glue sticks before replacing the lid. Show children how to do this and remind them when using glue sticks.
- and play encourages creativity and freedom of expression, understanding of shapes and cooperation.
- Turn crafting into an event. Make your own puppets and stage a puppet show, too.