© 2024 Stretch-n-Grow International. All rights reserved.
- 800.348.0166
- info@stretch-n-grow.com
- Privacy Policy
Creative Crafting
Whether you’re a teacher in a classroom or a parent at home on a rainy day or if the weather is extremely hot or cold, it can be important to have things to do when kids get bored. Giving them an opportunity to flex their creativity is a great way to give their minds an opportunity to get some exercise. Crafting not only engages their brain and challenges their imaginations, it can also improve dexterity in their hands as they get older and the crafts grow harder. Better yet, there are so many kinds of crafts. Whether they reinforce scientific or historic concepts, or are just pure expression, spending time together making something is a positive experience for friends or family.
Whether crafting for educational opportunities or to alleviate boredom, diving into a project can be super fun for everyone involved. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Creative timelines. Learning about something that took a period of time to come to fruition? Use string, unique shapes, fun colors, construction paper, and more to make a memorable and attractive timeline of events. Stickers, and even 3D objects, can highlight specific moments. The level of complication is also flexible depending on the age of the child or children.
- DIY Flashcards. A useful tool for memorization is flashcards, so whether it is for math like addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, to facts, to vocabulary for another language, letting children make the cards themselves lets them make it memorable for themselves and gives them more opportunities to commit the information to their memories.
- Toilet Paper Roll Animals. When learning about different kinds of animals, you can use toilet paper to make the different animals, along with pipe cleaner, construction paper, and other fun craft accessories. Add googly eyes for some extra fun and create fact sheets about the animal.
Got more time on your hands? Here are three crafts for long school breaks:
- Build a miniature house. Whether purchasing a kit or making one entirely out of popsicles, building a space to act out stories for dolls or action figures can be lots of fun. They can get bigger or smaller; and if they get bored with it, they can put it away and return to it later. If they build the whole thing, it can be a source of years of enjoyment.
- Artificial garden. There are all sorts of fun ways to make fake flowers. They can be made with paper, coffee filters, string, pom-poms, and even different colors of duct tape. Over the course of a week or even a couple months, you can find a spot to build a garden full of these fake flowers. It could be on a wall, in a kid’s room, or in a window. Kids of all ages can make fake plants to contribute to the garden.
- Learn to make a blanket. Whether it is weaving, crocheting, or knitting, making something with lasting value or making something to give as a gift can open a kid’s eyes to possibilities. Those are also skills they can perfect into the future. Making a blanket may take time and be more appropriate for older kids, but it will be something they remember for years.
What kind of crafts does your classroom or family enjoy! Make sure you let us know!
by Bethany Verrett
Bethany is a freelance writer and editor. Click on her name to find out more!
Find out about joining the Stretch-n-Grow Franchisee Family here! For information on finding a class for your child, adding Stretch-n-Grow to your school’s curriculum, or employment opportunities, click here or email us at info@Stretch-n-Grow.com!
