Elementary school art class

By Sirena Van Schaik

When I first started college, I decided that I wanted to take Early Childhood Education. It seemed like fun, was pretty interesting and had a lot of subjects that I was sure I would enjoy and would be all about child development and how to teach. Imagine my surprise on the first day of one class when I found myself and the other students seated around a table making a children’s craft.

Of course, my first reaction as I tried to peel the excess glue of my fingers was disbelief. Why was I building a craft when I should be learning how to teach? Everything became clearer to me later in the class. This was, after all, an integral part of teaching children since a fair amount of time would be spent doing something creative with the children I was teaching.

And that was the answer that I had been looking for and is the answer to why this site is available for parents and children alike. As important as it was that I re-learn how to be creative, it is just as important for children to be allowed to be creative.

Crafts and any type of creativity nurture many different developmental areas. Color differentiating, fine motor when using scissors or a pen, patterning, special awareness, and on and on and on. Crafts are important on so many levels and they allow children a chance to express themselves.

Foster creativity in children with craft projects

So childhood is to crafts what jam is to peanut butter. Sure you can have one without the other but isn’t it better when the jam is poking out the sides and make fingers even stickier. The song does go, “A peanut butter sandwich made with jam…” (Raffi, 1948-)

Now we may not be the peanut butter but this site is here to be the jam. We offer a wide range of crafts for children to create and many helpful tips for parents to nurture creativity in their children.

Remember that being creative means being messy. Crafts should be fun, filled with glitter, glue or paint, and should be done in a carefree manner. Yes, we do have structured crafts but children are more than welcome to change those crafts and mix them up and you are more than welcome to share with us how you and your children made the craft better.

We hope you enjoy our crafty site and will fill your home with all the crafts that your children make. Because after everything, the greatest gift we can give our children is the self assurance they gain and the creativity that they nurture on their own.

Now head over to our Kids Craft category to get started on some fun projects!