Crafts For Small Kids

Keeping small children occupied can be a full time job. Try utilizing crafts and creative play time to encourage recreational learning while keeping them entertained. Whether it’s one child alone or an entire group to keep busy, there are more things to get kids started in crafts than you’ll be able to choose from. Be sure to try to plan your activities based on the average age of the children. It will make the process much easier for everyone involved.

A safe and easy craft that kids tend to find fascinating is origami and kids art. There are many levels of origami from the incredibly simple to the advanced type of folding. Purchase gift wrap from a craft store or local big box store. It’s fun to let kids pick out the wrapping paper that they like. Even the local dollar or liquidation store will have plenty at a low price. Easy beginner origami can be found online with no trouble. Get involved by learning with your children as you go.

Paper plates have been a great craft accessory for years. Most of us can recall using them as children in school to make great things like masks or giant flowers. Supply kids with a stack of plates and additional decorative items like pipe cleaner, glue and markers. It’s always fun to see what children will come up with when set loose with a stack of great materials and their imagination.

Make use of those old egg cartons by giving them to the kids for crafts. An egg carton caterpillar is fun to create. Cut the egg carton so that there is an entire row of egg slots to form the caterpillar body. Use pipe cleaner for antenna and then go crazy decorating the body however you like. This is a great one for younger kids since it involves little cutting. Be sure to always supervise and assist small children with the use of scissors.

One craft idea that will always be timeless is making holiday or birthday cards by hand. There is something so special about receiving a home made card from a child that cannot be beaten by any store bought version. It’s a true keepsake that can be kept for many years as a part of a beautiful memory.

The options are virtually endless for kids crafts that are perfectly suited to smaller kids. Get them involved in reading by having them create their very own bookmarks. Use sturdy construction paper cut rectangular then let them do the rest with glitter, paint or beads. Have them make one in the style or theme of their favourite story. Pencil holders are also great and related to reading and writing. Decorate a can or wooden container tall enough to hold pencils. There really is no limit to what you can do.

It’s important to prevent kids from developing extreme tendencies for electronics and TV. While those things are fine in moderation, it’s necessary to keep the brain active and stimulated. Crafts for kids are both fun and results in some pretty neat stuff.

September 10, 2009
By Lily Morgan
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Source: http://www.bharatbhasha.com/arts-and-crafts.php/97069

Arts and Crafts For Kids in Daycares Schools

Although most parents are the ones who provide their children with the arts and crafts for kids, there are other places where these useful tools can also be found. For example, children may get some valuable time with these tools at the babysitter’s house or in kindergarten. If you are running any type of facility for children whether you’re watching them for parents or educating them or both, you should definitely consider adding more arts and crafts for kids. Below are several great reasons to make this change.

Boredom Free

One thing you never want when you’re working with children is for them to become bored. That’s when the trouble starts. Of course, you also don’t want them to be running around a playground or sitting in front of a television all day either. By giving them arts and crafts for kids you can provide both mental and physical stimulation in one package. You can have complete control of the arts and crafts for kids they receive so you can take precautions to keep your home or facility from being destroyed by paint or markers (colored pencils are a good alternative).

At the end of the day, the children can return to their parents with some nice artwork or finished kids craft projects which makes everyone happy.

Learning Potential

While most people think arts and crafts for kids are all about fun, they can also be very useful for real learning. For example, if you give each child a handy sketchbook and some colored pencils you could end up with the tools for learning. Here’s an example. If you want to work on the alphabet, draw a letter on a whiteboard where all of the kids can see it. Don’t say the letter but ask all of the kids to draw a picture of a thing that starts with that letter. If you had an S on the board, for instance, the kids might draw a snake or a stereo.

Another idea for a learning activity using arts and crafts for kids is to ask the children to create a visual interpretation of a math problem. For example, if you want the kids to find the answer to “2 + 2” then have them draw a picture to help them. The child might draw two ice cream cones and two dogs then can count the pictures and know the answer is four.

Alternative Activities

Having arts and crafts for kids is also a good idea if you want to make alternative activities for some kids. Not all children will want to do the same things at the same time. For example, some kids may want to watch a DVD before nap time, other children may want to play games, but some prefer quiet time alone. Having arts and crafts for kids is a good way to meet the needs of multiple kids at the same time.

Meeting the Needs of Children

Having arts and crafts for kids at home, at care facilities, and at schools is an important way to encourage creativity in children and to inspire good behavior.



September 2, 2009
By Chris Peace
Smalltime Child offers a great selection of arts and crafts for kids in addition to Toddler Toys. Check us out on the web at http://www.smalltimechild.com
Source: http://www.bharatbhasha.com/parenting.php/95674

How Arts and Crafts For Kids Can Inspire a Love of Art

If you’ve ever had the opportunity to go to an art museum when children were present, you know that most of them aren’t interested. The same is true for classical music concerts, literature, or anything that was never shown on MTV or some other cable channel. That’s a shame because these parts of our culture have much to offer them. The good news is that you can use arts and crafts for kids to encourage your children to have a greater appreciation of art – one that will last a lifetime.

Talk about Your Child’s Artwork

One way to encourage children to have an interest in the arts is by taking an interest in their art. When you dismiss their creative efforts with kids arts, you are sending them a message that these things are not important. If you don’t care about their efforts, why should they care about the efforts of dead strangers?

Instead, when your child shows you something he or she has created using arts and crafts for kids, talk about the results. Ask your child questions about the color or the subject. Treat their artwork as the work of a creative mind because that’s exactly what it is. Then when you go to the art museum discuss the same types of questions about the art there. Your child will be much more engaged in the conversation.

Appreciate Art from Your Child’s Perspective

Children are generally very practical when it comes to art. If you’ve seen their creations using arts and crafts for kids, you know most of them stick to realism. That’s why they may not always be impressed with some of the art you’re going to encounter in the local museum. If you child dismisses an important work of art as ugly or stupid, don’t chastise him or her. Instead, ask for concrete reasons for the dismissal. Say, “What don’t you like about it?” instead of “Don’t say that! This is a valuable piece of art!”

Remember that not everyone is entitled to an opinion and that includes your child. The more he or she feels able to express that opinion the more creative he or she will become and the less likely he or she is to hate the museum.

Learning to Love Other Types of Art

While arts and crafts for kids can help your child gain an appreciation of artwork, there are other ways to instill a love of other types of art. For example, if you want your child to love literature, don’t hand him or her a dusty book. Instead, read to them from the book or watch a well-done film version or listen to the story on tape. These alternative approaches will make the literature more accessible to children and you can help explain what’s happening step by step.

Learning to Love Art

One of the best parts of arts and crafts for kids is that they can give your children a reason to love the best of the world’s culture and art while possibly giving them the skills to make their own contribution.



August 19, 2009
By Chris Peace
Smalltime Child offers a great selection of arts and crafts for kids in addition to Toddler Toys. Check us out on the web at http://www.smalltimechild.com
Source: http://www.bharatbhasha.com/parenting.php/95675