Craft Projects

When children are very young, it is important to encourage their creativity and get them excited about different craft projects. The key to success when doing craft projects with your children, especially young children, is to understand exactly what they are capable of and not expect them to do something that is more complicated than their current stage of development allows.

Around 12 to 13 months most children will start to hold crayons and other writing implements and shove them around on paper, but you can’t really call what they are doing “drawing.” By 16 months most kids have the scribbling thing down.

While it’s not a formal craft project, you can use these masterpieces done by your kids in craft projects of your own. A child’s drawing makes a great cover for a scrapbook or brag book for the grandparents. You can also use these drawings in scrapbooks, on greeting cards, or in a journal you’ll someday give your child. Make a collage out of some of your favorites, or just frame them with matching frames to make one big wall of art.

You could also encourage your little one’s artistic ability by covering the floor or a wall with a large sheet of paper and letting him or her draw a mural. Beware, however, that this might encourage them to draw on the wall when there’s not paper protecting it!

When your kids get a little older it is easier to involve them in craft projects. Two and three-year olds are getting better and better at drawing, so you can use the same ideas listed above, as well as introducing three-year-olds to painting.

Once most children reach the age of three, they are very creative and imaginative. Their motor skills have improved such that they can trace basic shapes, use play dough and follow stories. They love to play dress up and play with finger puppets, so you can use your crafting prowess to make them fun things to play with.

Matching, putting together simple puzzles and identifying colors are possible at this stage, so incorporating these into your craft projects can be a lot of fun. Puzzles with little handles on the pieces are easiest for them to manipulate. Or you can use your computer to print out a picture of the child, laminate it and cut it into six or so pieces (use the pieces from a purchase puzzle as a guide). Attach a piece of a dowel to each piece if you want to make it a little easier for them.

When you are doing craft projects while your child is playing near you, ask them to identify the colors you are using or help you count or sort things by color. Kids this age can identify a few colors and count a few numbers, so this will help.

Kids this age can also string large beads or buttons onto a shoelace or large string, so it might be time for the child’s first real craft project!

Around the age of four, development in the crafty arts really starts to take off. Kids can use blunt-nosed scissors, so they can cut out shapes that can then be used in all sorts of craft projects (don’t expect perfection at first). They can draw more detailed pictures of people, which might be fun to use on a family tree project or even on your Christmas card.

Many kids at this age can also copy letters, so they may start writing a little bit, which is really cute. Again, these attempts at writing can be included in craft projects that you make.

Four-year-olds can use hole punches, so if you’re working on a paper project and can show them what to punch they can help. They could also make you punch confetti, which is fun to load into greeting cards or holiday poppers.

At this age children develop a longer attention span and are able to finish projects in one sitting. Four and five-year-olds love physical activity and need a lot of it, so go for walks with your child to learn about the natural world and collect items for craft projects, or make your own bubbles, play dough, kites or other outdoor crafts. Making musical crafts like drums, shakers and shoe-box guitars is also a lot of fun for kids of this age.

Five-year-olds might be the most enthusiastic crafters. They love to color, cut things out, paint, craft with clay or play dough, and their motor skills are getting better all the time. When I was in kindergarten, we were even allowed to make crafts using blocks of wood, hammers and nails (with adult supervision, of course). This is a great time to try new craft projects like cross stitching with a plastic needle and yarn using plastic “fabric.” Beading with pony beads is possible, and they can do lots of cutting and gluing.

Five-year-olds love numbers so you can even turn beading into an educational opportunity by giving them a basic pattern to follow, like five red beads followed by three blue beads.

Praise is really important at this stage in development, so no matter what your kids do, make sure you congratulate them for trying.

Once your children master the basics, they will be able to start on more grown-up crafts rather quickly. From about the age of six you can start trying to teach knitting, though most kids don’t’ have the motor skills for crochet until they are a little older.

Kids as young as eight can use a sewing machine for basic quilting and other sewing projects, with supervision, of course. About that age is the time to start cross-stitching on standard fabric with a platic or metal needle. Around age 10, start candle making and soap making. Or forget these “rules” and start teaching a child to craft whenever he or she shows an interest. Have fun!

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