Crafting with children can be so fun and rewarding for both kids and parents. However, if you've never done crafts before, the idea of jumping right in can be a little intimidating. Try a few of these tips for stress free crafting with your kids.
Keep Craft Clean Up Stress Free
- Make sure you are all wearing clothing that can get dirty. The brand new shirts should be replaced by ones that are almost outgrown or a bit ratty. Of course, if you can't find any stained or worn clothing, aprons or artist smocks are the way to go.
- If you have some men's dress shirts in the bag to go to the thrift store, you can use them to protect clothing instead. Simply roll the sleeves up a few times and wear them over your clothes. Once you don't have to worry about paint or glue getting on shirt sleeves, you can relax and enjoy the whole messy process.
- Protect the area you are working in. Put a vinyl tablecloth on the table to protect it. If you don't have one, old newspapers are also perfect for protecting your table's surface. When you are finished your project, you can simply throw the dirty newspapers away.
- Drop cloths or old vinyl tablecloths can keep your carpet safe in case of accidental paint spills.
Get Organized Before You Begin
- Double check to make sure you have all of your craft supplies and place them on the table. You don't want to have to stop right in the middle of a craft project to root around for that glue stick you know you saw yesterday.
- Read through any directions that come with the craft kit to be sure you understand all of the steps.
- Show your children any sample pictures of finished projects so they can understand what they are making more easily.
Finally, the most important thing you should remember is that craft projects don't have to look a certain way when they are completed. After all, the great thing about crafting with kids is that your child is having fun spending time with you and learning to be creative. This is especially hard to remember if you are working on a project where not doing things "right" is obvious. For example, if you are working on a cat craft, it can be difficult to allow your child to make the craft with the cat's tail nearer to the head than the hindquarters. However, try to remember that it really doesn't matter and that children develop the skills to place things in the "right" place as they mature.
