Crafting with Kids for the Non-Crafter

I'm writing this post for any of you parents out there who are NOT crafty, but who nevertheless are (cautiously) (ambivalently) interested in crafting with your kids.  Words cannot describe how bad I am at constructing things with my hands.  Furthermore (and not unrelated to my huge lack of skill), I have always resented the idea that just because you're female, you'll be really eager and able to craft.  I was always jealous when, for church events, boy's night out meant a sports activity or eating junk food and girl's night meant crafting.  Even just the word "crafting" makes me cringe.  I'll stop on the hating now, as I know many of you who are my good friends love to craft and are awesome at it, and I'm not meaning to denigrate your talents (in fact, i'm mostly just jealous).

But, if you have kids, chances are good that crafting will be part of your life during the preschool and early elementary years.  I was hoping that the kids would get their fill of art projects at school, but I've got one child who would do craft projects all day long if she was allowed and who really feels loved when we do a craft together, and another child who likes crafting well enough and can really use the extra fine motor practice.  So, around once a week, we do crafts up in here.  When we were first getting started, I really could have used some guidance from someone who had started from square one (meaning, they did not already own a glue gun / have a DIY pinterest page / craft for fun in their own spare time).  So I'm giving that advice to any other non-crafty folks out there.

What supplies do you need?

One of the things that's intimidating about crafts is that you find a cute idea, and then it costs a fortune to buy all the supplies that would go into making it.  Especially for little kid crafts, you can get by with a bare bones set of supplies.  I would start with construction paper, markers, kid scissors, and glue.  You can make TONS with those basics.  Some other things I've bought to add variety are googly eyes ($1), popsicle sticks ($1), yarn ($3), pipe cleaners ($3), and glitter glue ($3).  There are other things you already have around the house that can be incorporated into craft projects (paper plates, coffee filters, straws), or trash that you can save to incorporate into projects (empty egg cartons and empty toilet paper rolls - and I DONT EVEN KNOW MYSELF ANYMORE).

There are two supplies that your kids would probably love, but that you should first take into consideration the mess and how that will work in your space:  paint and glitter.  I'm hoping we can do some outdoor painting projects this summer, but paint on carpet is just a disaster.  Ditto with glitter.  We had this sensory calm down jar with glitter that busted open, and the glitter is still in the carpet years later.  If your child *loves* sparkle (and they all do), glitter glue is the least messy way I've found to add a little bit of sparkle without it ending up in every nook and cranny of your house.


Where do you get project ideas?
Pinterest is a gold mine, but (like with everything else) it can make you feel overwhelmed in like 3 seconds.  Once you start doing projects with your kids, you will have a better idea of which projects will work and which won't, and you can pin accordingly (and then the magical algorithm will do a better job of feeding you the kind of thing you're looking for and not the crazy projects that require an advanced degree in fine arts).  If you want to keep it simple, look up "toddler crafts", even if the kid is 7 years old, even if it's you that's doing the project - if you just look up "easy crafts", the results are still sometimes overly complicated for the non-crafty.

There are kits or art projects you can buy, but for the super beginner set, I don't think is the best way.  I bought a crafting bucket from Costco for $15 which promised to contain 100 project ideas.  This was an affordable way to get a sampling of a wide variety of supplies, but many of the projects were way too complicated for my young kids.  So the Internet is the best bet for ideas.

What kind of expectations should I have?

This is our most recent project - these are turkeys.

When kids are first starting out, they will need help with everything.  They will need to have several sessions of practice cutting just to learn to cut a line.  They may need to be shown several times how to grip a marker.  They will pour 20 times more glue than needed, possibly in the wrong spot.  They will only be able to take one direction at a time.  It's a very hands on process for the adult.  Our first projects were just pieces of construction paper cut into whatever shapes they could manage, glued onto another piece of construction paper.  Now they have advanced to cutting out basic shapes and gluing them together to look like animals, or holiday decorations, or vehicles.  And then gluing on some more embellishments.  It's still super basic, but the more they practice, the better they get.

This is what the project looked like on Pinterest.

One thing that might be harder for those who actually are crafty, and is also hard for all the perfectionists among us, is that kids will do things (either accidentally or on purpose) that make the project look *way* different than the example.  At this point, it's so tempting to step in and fix it.  It's so important to remember that the kid will enjoy it more and take more pride in the final project if they get to do as much as they possibly can by themselves.  It might not look much like the example picture, or much like anything recognizable, but they will love both the process and result more if they are only given help when they absolutely need it.  So it's really helpful to choose projects that are at their level, and it's important to encourage any perfectionist children that if it doesn't look just like the example, that's what makes it creative and special.

(Also,  regarding expectations:  there is light at the end of the tunnel for those who never grow to enjoy art time! Once the kids get the hang of the basics, they will start doing some projects on their own.  Right now, our kids can draw pictures with no help from me, and create abstract pictures that involve cutting and glue with minimal help from me.)

Final advice:
Keep a sense of humor.  There will be a mess.  You will spend more time setting up and cleaning up than actually crafting.  There will be projects that turn out like the Pinterest / nailed it memes.  Remember that the goal is for your kid to create art, and in the process spend some quality time with you, and if this happens then you have succeeded spectacularly!

Are there any other non-crafty parents out there who have worked out this process?  What's your advice?