This is a collaborative post by Ellie Jo.
Crafting is a wonderful hobby for children. It is creative, and it can help them develop motor skills, So if you are looking for some cool crafts to get your kids enthused, read on for some suggestions.
Finger Painting Trees
Good for very young children, all you need for this is some sheet of A3 paper and some poster paint.
Start by getting your little ones to draw around their hand and lower arm on the paper. This will become the tree. Then get them to finger paint on the leaves. Leave that to try for a bit and then fill in the tree shape with brown paint and viola!
Homemade Playdough
Playdough is something that little ones adore playing with, and it can really help them develop their creativity as well. Really they can make anything out of it that their imagination can come up with. Also because it re-moldable, it can be used time and time again at no extra cost.
It even better if you make your own playdough for the kids to use. This is not as hard as it seems. In fact, you can even help them to get involved in this process as well.
All you need is 1 cup of water, and 1 of flour, ½ cup of salt. Mix this with two tablespoons of salt and 2 of cream of tartar. Combine this all together until over heat until it starts clumping together. Add in food colors at this stage, and you can have any shade you like too! Store in airtight containers to make it last for longer.
Mittens From Jumpers
A really cute craft to do with the little ones is to make some winter mittens from old jumpers.
Of course, because of the cutting and sewing, they will need quite a bit of help with this. Bit it is a fun activity for you to do together.
First get them to put their wrist on the jumper, at the base, but above the expanding ribbed part. Then take some chalk and draw around their hand. Cut through both layers of jumper, so you have a back and a front. Leave about an inch gap, so you have enough fabric to sew them together.
Then do the same with the other hand. Cut the shapes out, supervise young kids doing this and remember to use safety scissors for any cutting that the little ones do.
Then either with a blunt embroidery needle or a sewing machine stitch the two halves together with a simple chain stitch. If you allowing your child to use the sewing machine, make sure that you supervise them and allow them to go as slowly as they want. Or you can follow the guide here for some more help.
It’s also a good idea to have something like a sewing machine table, so they have a stable surface at the right height to work on.
Once the sewing is complete turn right side out and you have a fun and practical pair of gloves to keep your little one warms in the winter that they help helped to create.
