Fun Friday: Crafting With The Kids!

7/19/2019

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With temperatures blazing into the 100 and teens here in Phoenix, it is always a challenge to find things to do INDOORS with the kids besides TV, electronics and videos. One of the things I have always enjoyed with my own children and now grandchildren is crafting together. It is a great thing to teach kids skills that they can use throughout life, give them a chance to express themselves creatively and there is a strong link to cognitive function as they take things from their minds and express them through their hands. They develop their fine motor skills and can also exercise problem solving as they create.
One summer I let each of my kids pick out fabric and they made decorative pillows for their beds and learned to use my sewing machine in the process. Those pillows stayed in our house for years! When they were little and wanted to paint when I was painting, I gave them water, a paint brush and a block of wood and let them go to town mess free.
You probably have things around your house that will work for kids to use to imagine and create all kinds of wonderful things:

Paper cups and plates
egg cartons
buttons and beads
crayons and markers
glue
pipe cleaners
feathers
construction paper
cotton balls
old magazines
fabric scrapes

The list goes on and on. Just fill a box with supplies and then let the kids go at it. Be prepared for a mess. Lay old newspaper under them to work on, but with all of those supplies, they should be entertained for hours.

If you are still short on supplies, this is a good time of year to:

Get summer kids kits on clearance! I got that little owl box above to work on with my granddaughter at Joann's for about $1 I think. She loved it, even though at 18 months I did most of the work, but she loved manipulating the paint brush WITHOUT paint on it!
New fall crafts are coming out in stores, so kids can start thinking about school and Halloween and getting excited about that.

Here are some more great kids crafting kits available right now for reasonable prices. You could give your kids some options and let them choose something that they will really get into. There is something to be said about getting a kit and learning to follow directions while also adding some extra flair of their own!

At Dollar Tree: (They have a ton of options, these are just a few!)

Wood shop build and play project kits to build and to decorate, then play with! Perfect!

Paint your own bank kits! I let my 2 year old grandson go to town painting things like this, stripped to his diaper in his high chair to keep the mess to a minimum.

Let your kids be a real artist with easels, paints and brushes. These Halloween scenes will be great to hang up for the trick or treat crowd!

How about letting them color their own trick or treat bags this year? Each bag comes with 4 markers!

Hobby Lobby: (again, there are a ton of options! And, many of their art kits are 40% off right now!)

A glittery Crayola art set!

Magic Paint posters! You only need water
and your dino lover can paint away!

This kit even comes with the rocks!

Michaels: (lots of clearance going on here!)

*In stores only pipe cleaners, felt, pom poms and wooden paintable door hangers are on sale for 47 cents!

Latch hooking could be fun for an older child! This is available online only.

Hand Lettering is so popular and this would be a creative way to improve handwriting as well!

It won't be long now until school starts back up! Take these last few weeks to make some memories, build some confidence in your kids, do some STEM activities without them knowing it and just have some fun away from the screen! Use this craft time to initiate conversation and relax together. You and your kids will love it! Have a Fun Friday!

If your children love doing crafts, you may want to consider this: