Arts and crafts projects allow children the opportunity to express themselves as they create aesthetically pleasing works of art. By engaging your kids in the completion of crafts, you not only have the opportunity to spend quality time with them, but you also empower them to create and express their inner thoughts and ideas. The next time your child comes to you whining about being bored, whip up a craft project to keep her engaged and entertained.
Reasons to Craft
Craft projects are more than just a productive way to pass the time. As the Artists Helping Children website reports, arts and crafts project completion can be beneficial to children. Among other things, the completion of craft projects promotes patience and helps the child develop delayed gratification skills.
Wearable Works of Art
Create a craft that your child can easily display by wearing the work proudly. Create a toothbrush bracelet by allowing your kid to pick a decorative toothbrush in her favorite color. Assist her in pulling the bristles out, and then dip the handle in water that is at a rolling boil. Use tongs to bend the softened plastic into an oval that the child can slip it onto her wrist.
Teach your child how to crochet or knit a scarf, and she’ll have another crafts project she wear proudly.
Crafts that Give Back
Allow your kid to create a craft that makes a difference. Contact a local hospital and inquire about crocheting hats for newborns. Some hospitals take donations giving your child the opportunity to create a project that will brighten a new mom or dad’s life. Engage your child in the creation of afghans and donate the finished products to a retirement community.
Yearly Craft Time Capsule
Make crafting a regular activity by creating a yearly craft time capsule with your growing tot. At the conclusion of each year of your kid’s life, ask her to cut out images that represent her current interests from magazines and newspapers. Purchase a wooden or cardboard box, and assist your child in decoupaging the selected images onto the box surface. Fill the box with mementos of that year in your child’s life.
His Space
Let you child put his touch on his room by engaging him in the creation of a mural. Plan out a mural with your child, and help him transfer his vision to his bedroom wall. Assist him in painting the mural, allowing him to make his room truly a one-of-a-kind space.
Photo Credit
- craft a card! image by Shirley Hirst from Fotolia.com
