Guest Post- Why Craft with Young Children?

Hi!

My name is Maggy and I run the Craft Website Red Ted Art. At Red Ted Art, I regularly Get Crafty with my son “Red Ted”, almost 3yrs old. I also provide a range of tutorials that anyone can follow and enjoy – from making things for your children (e.g. Sock Stick Horses) to tutorials for yourself (e.g. how to improve your photographic skills). I do hope you pop by and have a look!

When Adele, asked if I wanted to write a guest post about “why craft with young children”, I jumped at the chance: as crafting with and for kids is something I a very passionate about! I love Adele’s new blog and all the craftiness she gets up to!

So to the question “Why Craft with Young Children”?

There are two categories my reasons fall into:

Developmental & Emotional:

I think most people are aware of the key developmental benefits of art and crafts with children:

·         Improve fine motor skills

·         Develop imagination

·         Develop cognitive skills

·         Improve confidence and self belief

·         Learn to follow instructions

·         Learn about your environment (e.g. seasonal crafting)

I won’t go into them individually, as I think they speak for themselves. These are things, that indeed could be developed in nurseries or schools, but the more you do them, the more you will get out of them, and I find the more my children want to get involved! I find, that my son is already beginning to get very good at following instructions or coming up with his own ideas compared to his peers, as we have been crafting much longer than his (slightly older) peers and he knows “what the drill” is. He will even come up to me and say what he wants to do next. Recently he sat down and drew Father Christmas from a book we had been reading.

And then there is the emotional benefits, which are often hugely underrated:

·         Enjoying quality time together

·         Creating fabulous childhood memories

Firstly, and more obviously, this is a chance for “quality time”, even if you are crafting with several children – older ones can help younger ones (also a developmental skills) and younger ones can bond with older ones or you.

And secondly: Memories! Ask yourself, what sort of childhood memories do you want your children to have? There are many things that make childhood beautiful – playing games together, going for walks, reading bedtime stories. Crafts is amongst them. What I like about our crafting, is that we usually combine crafting with a book. This helps my son understand a little what the “goal of our craft session is”, as well as having a lovely read together. Also, crafting can involve playing or the outdoors: collecting sticks and leaves to then make something and then to play with afterwards. So for me arts and crafts lets you bring many childhood memories together.

I thank my “adoptive” granny who spent hours with me, teaching me out to knit and sew – definitely happy memories for me and I hope very much to instil similar ones with my children?

If you don’t know where to starts, blogs like Monkeying Around and Red Ted Art come into it. We bring you weekly crafts that will hopefully help you to Get Crafty and show you that you often need few materials and little space! Yes, some of our crafts are very very messy, but many are not! Just pick the ones that suit you and your circumstances (i.e. often point people in the direction of our Monster Cards and Sock Bunnies – two simple crafts for you to enjoy).

Remember – your child will find anything you make FABULOUS! There is no right or wrong and that crafting is simply about having fun with your children! (and also remember, we also have days when my son has a melt down because I touched the paint brush the wrong way or because the yellow and the red got mixed up – thankfully not too often, but it is normal and part of it all).

If you want to read more about my thoughts on crafting with wee one, here is a post about my 9mth old daughter Pip Squeak “drawing”.

Thank you for taking the time to read my “thoughts” on this”! I hope it has inspired you to Get Crafty!

Maggy

Red Ted Art