Getting Our Children Crafting and Creating: 4 Things to Remember

 

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Crafting is an amazing hobby for the entire family. Crafts can spruce your home up and can provide hours of fun. The problem in the modern day is that our kids may not necessarily like the idea of getting into crafts, especially when they're a bit older. They may be more interested in watching videos on YouTube or playing their Switch, but it's important to get our children interested in crafting. It is never too late to teach our children about arts and crafts. Let’s show you a few ways to ensure that it's a part of your children’s lives.

Provide the Right Resources

The most important place to begin is finding the type of crafting that your kids would prefer to get on board with. Your children may be more interested in sticking pasta on paper or they may want to fashion little characters with amazing detail using macrame cotton rope to be a tiger's tail or hair for a little Stick figure. 

Whatever your children need, it is important to have an abundance of tools. We have to remember that creativity is something that shouldn't be limited in scope. When we have more tools at our disposal, it means that we can fulfill our vision better. But in order to get your child interested in something means providing a wider palate of tools. Your kids may not know what they're interested in just yet, which is why it's critical to provide as much inspiration as possible.

Make Sure You Can Clean Up

You might think it's a good idea if you can get them interested in arts and crafts but you might be dreading the cleanup! We've all been there! The best thing you can do is to have an area dedicated to arts and crafts. It might not be in the house, but setting up in the garden shed exclusively for messy play will take the stress out of the equation. If you have to do it in the house on a rainy day the best thing you can do is to have paint-proof mats laid everywhere, as well as make sure that your kids are protecting their clothes from glue, paint, and glitter! 

As nice as it is to encourage our children to get into arts and crafts, we could be stressing out about the mess they make which, over time, could stop them from wanting to create. Of course, we don't want a messy house, but it's critical that we get the balance right.

Do It Together

This sounds simple, but lots of parents give their children things to do and then leave them to it. It all depends on how old your child is; if your child is 9 or 10 they've already got a number of years of experience in playing video games and may not necessarily want to get involved in things like messy play. 

With a child of this age, it's important for us to sit down with them and gain an insight into what they would like to create. It could be as simple as giving them a pencil and some paper and asking them to draw how they are feeling. Arts and crafts are certainly things that appeal more to younger kids, but if you have younger children, ensuring that you stay with them and get creative to see what you can come up with as a family is a wonderful way to spend quality time together, but it also allows them the freedom to experiment with designs and colors. 

It can be a great lesson for you as well; sometimes we don't use our imagination as much as we should. The great thing about spending time with your kids creating stuff is that there are no rules! You can do anything you want, and this is something that, as parents, we can benefit from remembering once in a while!

Inspire Them

While creating can be an amazing thing, it benefits us to give our children inspiration. You can choose to go to an art gallery or museum but this could be intimidating for young children. However, spending time as a family can be a wonderful experience to provide a dose of culture. You can always start by getting a copy of The Art Book as a coffee table read. 

When your children start to look at the different painters and sculptors, from medieval to modern times, it can provide a great springboard for your child to do something more the next time they approach the canvas. It's important to remember that we don't fill them with a sense of dread and everything they create is going to be fantastic. We just need to give them that encouragement. 

Creativity is a tool with no rules at the outset, but as your child gets older, they may attempt to create something that they pictured in their head but are not getting it right. The expression “art is never finished, only abandoned,” comes to mind here, but it can be an amazing way to help streamline their talents, especially if your kids are showing interest in crafts or starting to create different pieces of art. 

The best thing about getting into crafts is that nothing is off-limits. You can create collages out of recyclable materials, make sculptures out of clay, sew pieces of cloth together to make an heirloom, and on it goes. The more your kids get inspired the more they will create, and this is an amazing thing to see.

Being artistic is an amazing way to express ourselves and we can use crafting to connect with our children on a different level, but it can also help our children become more in touch with their emotions. One of the biggest problems with using digital tools is that there is not always a hands-on approach that can be better utilized with arts and crafts. If you want your children to be more creative, in tune with their emotions, develop problem-solving skills, and express who they are in healthy ways, it is a great idea to get your children interested in crafting and creating.