Crafts, or How to Avoid Them
Crafts. The word makes me shudder and visions of glue and glitter and little pieces of paper all over my house fill my mind. I cringe at the thought of macaroni covered in glue or paint and attached to paper plates or strung on yarn. I do not like crafts. At all.
I have crafty friends who are talented and seem to manage it with no mess lingering in their house for weeks. If my kids play at their house they often come home with some clever craft made out of re-purposed items, and I am impressed and wonder how in the world did my friend come up with that?
But I never do crafts with my kids. I tried when I just had two kids and they were young, but the mess got to me and the projects never turned out well anyway, nor were they useful for anything. And so I just stopped. You would be hard pressed to find glue or glitter in my house. You may find a pair of little kid scissors hidden away in a drawer somewhere. But you won't find any craft themed books or magazines, and if you find any actual crafty items, they weren't made here.
When I started homeschooling long ago, our science books were filled with experiments. But I quickly discovered that the so-called experiments were thinly disguised crafts.
I avoid crafts whenever possible.
So you would think that my kids are artistically deprived and that their talents were stunted and undiscovered. But a funny thing happened on my way (running!) out of the craft store. My kids developed artistic talents anyway. And without any glitter!
Not to brag here, but just to demonstrate, let me list a few:
Daughter #1: She showed a desire and skill at sewing, so I found a couple of friends who could help her. She now can create her own designs (but can follow patterns as well) and earns money doing it. She also loves photography and takes beautiful and interesting pictures.
Son #1: He learned the piano and is studying guitar; he can read music and is not a bad guitar player. He also is talented at drawing and painting. I have several of his works framed and hanging on the walls in our home.
Daughter #2: She has studied piano and voice and has some talent there. She also loves and is good at creative writing. Like her sister, she loves photography.
Son #2: He is also a talented artist, and fills drawing book after drawing book. He can make doll clothes for his little sisters. He is also good at building things out of anything he can get his hands on. I'm thinking he might make a good engineer someday.
The other 3 kids' talents haven't surfaced yet, but I know they will. But so far, I have kids finding and developing artistic talents with no glue or macaroni or pipe cleaners. Kids discovering talents that are useful (I consider decorating the house useful) and may even earn them money. Kids expressing themselves through the arts without too much mess. (Update 2021- the daughter #3 is teaching herself guitar, son #3 is a very good sketch artist, and the youngest, daughter #4 has a lovely singing voice)
I do keep on hand drawing paper and pencils and crayons and paints. Of course, my daughter keeps sewing supplies in a cabinet. So you could say there are a few craft items in my house.
Go ahead and throw out the craft supplies cluttering up your house! Once the jumble is out of the way, you may find your kids becoming more creative than ever.
I have crafty friends who are talented and seem to manage it with no mess lingering in their house for weeks. If my kids play at their house they often come home with some clever craft made out of re-purposed items, and I am impressed and wonder how in the world did my friend come up with that?
But I never do crafts with my kids. I tried when I just had two kids and they were young, but the mess got to me and the projects never turned out well anyway, nor were they useful for anything. And so I just stopped. You would be hard pressed to find glue or glitter in my house. You may find a pair of little kid scissors hidden away in a drawer somewhere. But you won't find any craft themed books or magazines, and if you find any actual crafty items, they weren't made here.
When I started homeschooling long ago, our science books were filled with experiments. But I quickly discovered that the so-called experiments were thinly disguised crafts.
I avoid crafts whenever possible.
So you would think that my kids are artistically deprived and that their talents were stunted and undiscovered. But a funny thing happened on my way (running!) out of the craft store. My kids developed artistic talents anyway. And without any glitter!
Not to brag here, but just to demonstrate, let me list a few:
Daughter #1: She showed a desire and skill at sewing, so I found a couple of friends who could help her. She now can create her own designs (but can follow patterns as well) and earns money doing it. She also loves photography and takes beautiful and interesting pictures.
Son #1: He learned the piano and is studying guitar; he can read music and is not a bad guitar player. He also is talented at drawing and painting. I have several of his works framed and hanging on the walls in our home.
Daughter #2: She has studied piano and voice and has some talent there. She also loves and is good at creative writing. Like her sister, she loves photography.
Son #2: He is also a talented artist, and fills drawing book after drawing book. He can make doll clothes for his little sisters. He is also good at building things out of anything he can get his hands on. I'm thinking he might make a good engineer someday.
The other 3 kids' talents haven't surfaced yet, but I know they will. But so far, I have kids finding and developing artistic talents with no glue or macaroni or pipe cleaners. Kids discovering talents that are useful (I consider decorating the house useful) and may even earn them money. Kids expressing themselves through the arts without too much mess. (Update 2021- the daughter #3 is teaching herself guitar, son #3 is a very good sketch artist, and the youngest, daughter #4 has a lovely singing voice)
I do keep on hand drawing paper and pencils and crayons and paints. Of course, my daughter keeps sewing supplies in a cabinet. So you could say there are a few craft items in my house.
Go ahead and throw out the craft supplies cluttering up your house! Once the jumble is out of the way, you may find your kids becoming more creative than ever.
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