Supply Your Kids for Crafting
By Twistie
Crafts are great for keeping kids entertained for long periods of time. I remember spending literally hours over my paper dolls, paints, and other assorted projects when I was knee-high to a grasshopper.
But you do need some supplies and tools for this kind of imaginative play.
What do you put in your crafting kit? Well, there are a lot of options out there largely based on what particular interest the kids in question display. Then again, there are a few basics that will be useful to just about any child who wants to make something.
What do you need? I thought you’d never ask!
Paper. Make sure you’ve got at least a couple different kinds. Drawing paper, construction paper, perhaps wrapping or origami paper, too.
Crayons, markers, and paints. Few things entertained Tiny Twistie like some paper and a good old box of Crayolas. I also had loads of fun with watercolors, though another child might prefer another medium. Oh, and years later I discovered another use for watercolor paints. Did you know you can use them as make up, too? It’s not for everyone, but you can get a really delicate but pretty eyeshadow going out of a kid’s paintbox.
Scissors. Get the best you can, and make sure you’ve got an option for southpaws. One thing you probably don’t know about me is the fact that I almost flunked kindergarten, largely because I couldn’t get the right-handed scissors to work for me, so the teacher thought I couldn’t cut paper… and I couldn’t until I got left-handed scissors. The good news? Well, there’s the fact that the principal immediately ordered left-handed scissors for every classroom in the school so that other kids wouldn’t go through what I was dealing with. And then there’s the fact that these days more and more scissors will work with whatever hand the child picks them up in.
Pipe cleaners. There really is nothing like a pipe cleaner for fun model-making. Link them together for play jewelry, wind them into corkscrews and use them as cat toys (Jake the evil kitty plays fetch with them), of follow the instructions here to create dinosaurs and other creatures.
Glue. Your basic Elmer’s is probably what you’re looking for here. It works for paper, beads, wood, nearly anything you might need to stick together.
Glitter. Kids love things that sparkle. Indulge that.
Fabric. Whether it’s large scarves for dress up play or scraps from your latest quilt to make tiny accessories for a doll house, or felt squares for making holiday ornaments, fabric is a great way to entertain a child.
Yarn. Once again, this is a tremendously versatile item to have on hand. Hair for dolls, ropes for GI Joe to rappel into combat, the makings of a cat’s cradle… oh, and they can also learn to knit or crochet with yarn. Embroidery floss is a good extra, too.
Buttons and beads. Keep them on the larger side for very small kids, but make sure there are plenty on hand.
Bits of wood. Make doll furniture, build toy puppies, make bases for models, or paint it and glue stuff to it to hang as art on the walls.
Chances are your individual child will want a couple other things, but if you’ve got these, most kids can find something to do. Oh, and build their imaginations. That’s not a bad idea, either.
