Kids Crafts: Making Something Out Of Anything
Posted by Laura on Monday Mar 8, 2010 Under Crafts & Creations, Kids Arts and Crafts
Sometimes, I like to plan arts and crafts for my kids. I’ll have an idea, or see some great crafts project in a magazine or online, and we’ll do it. But whether I plan arts and crafts or not, it still happens in this house, and all over this house, every day. The kids sure don’t need me, to come up with creative ideas. In fact, I’d go so far as to say, that their wild imagination tends to venture further than mine does.
I try to keep the school room stocked with art supplies at all times, so that the kids can get creating any time it strikes their fancy to. But to tell you the truth, they often end up using lots of materials I didn’t supply, or would have even thought of. Every time I turn around in this house, there is some new creation sitting there, or they are playing with one, or someone is suddenly at my side saying, “Mama, look what I made!”. I’m always surprised, over and over, by their creativity. But really, I shouldn’t be anymore.
Here are just a very few things they have made, that I have found around the house, and happened to get photographed.
A robot, made by {JM}. Materials used: a Dunkin’ Donuts coffee cup, paint, marker, and a toy car. You should see it travel across the floor.
Pistachio Shell Art, made by {A}. Materials used: Pistachio shells, and markers.
A Tissue Paper Doll, made by {O}. Materials used: Tissue paper, glue, wooden screw cover buttons, and pencil.
A Pop-Up Card made by {JM}. Materials used: Paper, marker, black pen, scissors, and glue.
A Deck Hang-Out, made by {JM}. Materials used: Rubber material (the scraps from a kit), ribbon, tape, glue, a pencil, a cupcake tin, and firewood.
*Note: {JM} made this creation for someone we really care about, who suffers from frequent migraines.
The hammock, which is my favorite part, is so she can lie there and relax until she feels better. Since the project is so big and heavy, we decided to just send her photos, which she really appreciated. She used one of the photos, in a blog post of her own, about migraines. Please contribute to her post, if you have any helpful info or suggestions about migraines.
A watercolor painting, made by {S}. Materials used: Paper, Crayola watercolors, pencil, brush and water.
I think I can let go of the guilt I feel sometimes, when I haven’t planned a craft project in awhile. I don’t think they even need me.
March 9th, 2010 at 12:44 am
Love the pistachios!
March 9th, 2010 at 11:00 am
It’s stuff like this that make me love your kids (well, one of the bazillion things). I love that they just set out to be creative. Sometimes, and we are guilty of this here, we get sucked into mindless activities… video games, movies, Youtube *blush*, and the like… and then the day is gone and we just haven’t done anything to exercise our brains, aside from school of course. I love that your kids just take to doing this on their own. [M] will do this occasionally. He loves making paper airplanes as well as anything else will paper and tape, etc. He made Big a little sister the other day, named Little of course. Big ate it promptly LOL. [M] thought that was hysterical… glad he wasn’t traumatized. I told him he couldn’t make another though… dogs eating paper was not a good idea.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:15 am
And once again, {JM} thank you so very much for thinking of me and making such a lovely, serene place for me to imagine resting in while I have a migraine. It makes me smile whenever I think of it.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Paula-Aren’t they cute, Paula?! So tiny….I don’t know how she worked that small, and had such patience.
Teri – The kids were hysterical at the vision of Big, eating [M]‘s paper dog, Little! So is [M] doing Origami? If not, I bet he would LOVE that! After reading your comment, I was talking about Origami, and so brought up some pictures on the net for the kids to see, and GUESS who’s on a mission now, to make something by folding paper? I’ll have to get him a book. If [M] is doing stuff like that, you need to blog it! I wish we saw Little, before her unfortunate death. lol
March 9th, 2010 at 11:41 am
Laura, my boys have these calendars:
Jack has the origami fold-a-day calendar: http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Origami-Fold-Day-Calendar/dp/B002JPPMPC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=office-products&qid=1268152686&sr=8-2
& Max has the Paper Airplane fold-a-day calendar: http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Airplane-Day-Day-Calendar/dp/0740783920/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268152788&sr=8-1
They got them for Christmas and they usually do their folding projects before they start school to sort of ease into the day. We have paper airplanes and origami taped all over our school room walls. :)
March 9th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Awesome Teri! Thanks for the links – I saved them because I know my kids would love this stuff. What a GREAT idea you have, to do some before school to settle for school work, too. Take a photo of that wall! Sounds so cool.
March 10th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
(A) love that creative idea with pistachio shells. Haven’t thought of that one! (D & M) are always creating as well. Great job guys!
March 16th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Those creations are the best ones to find around the house!
March 19th, 2010 at 9:06 am
Glad you all enjoyed their creations as much as I do. I’m always intrigued by the ideas, thoughts and creations that are born from the imagination of any child. They are so free with the projects they set out to do. I often wonder what I would be capable of, if I didn’t have this need to make everything perfect, all of the time. NOT that everything DOES come out perfect. But I suspect the desire for it holds me back on some ideas of creating. Like, if I can’t make it good enough (a.k.a. perfect in my mind, lol), why do it? So I put if off, until I can better it in my head. I hope our children (yours and mine)keep their laid-back spirit as artists, as they grow up.