If you ever experience problems while crafting with your kids, you’re not alone. While crafting with my own kids, writing crafts for this blog and designing crafts for children’s magazines over the years, I have come across many issues. Thankfully, most of them can be broken down into five key areas. Here are the five biggest obstacles to crafting with kids, and proposed solutions for each of them.
Very young children may have short attention spans when it comes to crafting, and will not sit at a table for an extended period of time focusing on a craft project.
Recognize the signs — Most children, even those who are very young, will offer “cues” if they have had enough or have lost interest in a project. Babies or toddlers may turn their heads or look away. This may be a good sign that it is time to move on to something else.
New Experiences — Try sensory rich crafting experiences such as finger painting with edible paint, crafting with scratch and sniff stickers, or even starting out with sensory bins filled with interesting materials for your child may be helpful. (See related: 7 Fun Ideas for Sensory Bins and 12 Recipes for Paint.)
Craft WITH your kids — Instead of leaving the kids with their craft materials, and going off to another room in the house, sit down at the table and engage in a craft project alongside them. Kids are naturally drawn to projects they see you actively participating in, and crafting is no exception.
Crafting tends to focus on an end result, often pictured and stylized by professional in magazines, which may frustrate a perfectionist child.
Focus on the process — Open-ended art projects, or process-based art can help boost your child’s confidence. These projects are a great way to put emphasis on making art for the sake of creating, and there is no right or wrong way to do them. (See related: Process-based Valentine’s and Favorite Modern Art Projects for Kids)
Celebrate uniqueness — Your child’s artwork will always be unique and one-of-a-kind. Encourage your child to deviate from the project a bit to put his own creative spin on it.
Display your child’s artwork — At least a few key pieces of your child’s artwork should be on display in a prominent place in your home to show you value his work.
This is one of the most common reasons I hear from parents who have a difficult time crafting with their kids, but it may also the easiest to overcome.
Crafty subscription mail service — Kiwi Crate is a great option for a subscription service to make crafting super easy! Each month, the Kiwi Crate is delivered right to your door and features a wealth of activities all organized around a theme that kids 3-7 totally love. Most importantly, it helps parents spend more quality time with their kids without having to think up creative ideas or go out and buy materials. All you need to do is open up the box and enjoy!
Re-write your story — Start telling yourself that you ARE creative, then set aside 15 minutes every day to do something that makes you feel that way. Play with play dough, try a new recipe, doodle in a notebook, and in general, give yourself permission to play. You can also participate in a 365 Photography Project as an effective way to foster your own creativity while going about your regular day.
Crafting doesn’t have to take up huge amounts of time.
Visit our blog! — Inner Child Fun is full of crafts that are quick and easy, using materials you probably already have on-hand. Here are some project ideas to get you started: 16 Busy Bag Ideas (perfect for ringing in the New Year or anytime), Quick Valentine Window Display, Bread Tag Monsters
Make the time — From interviewing some of the busiest moms around the web, it became clear that most parents don’t “have the time”, rather they “make the time”. The good news is, several of them generously offered their best tips to make time for their kids, and you can read all about that here.
It’s true that crafting with kids can involve some mess-making, but it can also be contained with a little prior planning.
Go for low-mess projects — We are not afraid of mess, but it is nice not to have to clean up after every single project. Here are some low-mess or mess-free alternatives the kids (and you) will love! 10 Simple No-Mess Crafts for Tots, and several other no-mess crafts here.)
Plan ahead — When possible, use washable paint, wear aprons, and lay down an old sheet or shower curtain liner to contain the mess. You can even save the absolute messiest projects to do outside once the weather warms up.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own.
Do you have an obstacle to crafting with your kids that I haven’t addressed here? Have another solution? Leave a comment and share your stories with us!