As a parent, you want to provide a stimulating environment at home, before your kids start pre-school to expose them to stimuli that will both excite and educate them.
Ensuring that their minds are busy at a most crucial stage of development is important, but so is varying the activities they do.
Drawing and colouring are two great ways to encourage kids to be creative, but there are other ways they can create things as well.
Here are four unique craft ideas you can do with your kids. Doing them together will be a valuable bonding experience for you and your child.
T-shirt printing
Painting is always a lot of fun, so why not try it on a different canvas? T-shirt printing is easy to set up; all you really need is an old t-shirt and some fabric paint. You can use crayons or markers as well.
Paintbrushes are optional, or you can use your hands.
There are a number of fun ways to do t-shirt printing:
Painting – Use a paintbrush (or your hands) to draw shapes and patterns on your t-shirt
Stamps – you can make your own stamps from a sponge or cardboard cut-out.
Stencils – Let your child pick a stencil design they like, place the stencil over the t-shirt and your child will paint over it. The result should be a nice, clean image.
With t-shirt printing, it is probably best to work outside, as things can get quite messy.
Make a costume together
Whether it’s for the upcoming school play, a fancy dress or just for fun - making a costume together is a great way to bond with your child. Get some ideas from the web or ask your child what they would like to dress up as. You can use materials found in the home, and as with t-shirt printing, your child can paint their designs on the costume.
Make a nature collage
Leaves, grass and sticks can make for some very impressive artworks. Creating things from different materials is very stimulating for young children. Next time you’re both at the park, let your child pick up things he or she finds interesting; like small flowers, leaves and twigs. When they are done collecting, they can make a collage with their materials by gluing them onto some paper or cardboard. Like t-shirt printing, this one can get quite messy too so it’s best to do it outside.
Make your own jewellery
Making a bracelet or necklace is very easy, and you can make one from practically anything. All you are going to need for this one is a piece of string or thin cord and some threadable beads. Let them thread the beads through the cord, and when they’re done help them tie it. If you don’t have any beads you can substitute for old buttons, candy or seashells.
*This column was provided by Vistaprint. Vistaprint empowers more than 13 million micro businesses and consumers annually with affordable, professional options to make an impression with range of products including customized business cards, postcards, invitations, T-shirts and more.
Check out Kid's Circle for the best craft kits in Australia!
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