#11 Create Crafts
There are numerous ways to be crafty with or without the kids. My girlfriend and I regularly do fun craft stuff like pottery but mostly we paint together and we find it brings us closer as a family.
Doing crafts has many more advantages than you may think. It can inspire kids’ imagination, give them artistic flair and teache them new skills. Here are 2 examples, but there are many more art activities you can do with kids.
Paint T-Shirts
- Print an image of your choice
from the internet - Print it on iron-on transfer paper
- Iron it onto t-shirt
- Provide the kids (and big kids) with fabric paint, fabric markers or fabric crayons
- Let the kids colour in the image (just as they
would with a colouring-in book)
~ I’m a farmer
Make Playdough
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 2 cups of flour
- 2 cups of warm water
- 1 cup of salt
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar (optional for improved elasticity)
- Food coloring (the more colours the merrier)
- Scented oils (if you want it to smell nice)
Directions
- Mix all ingredients together, and stir over low heat. The dough will begin to thicken until it resembles mashed-potatoes.
- When the dough pulls away from the edges of pan (and is no longer sticky, if it is still sticky then keep cooking) and clumps in the center (and feels like playdough), remove the pan from heat and allow the dough to cool enough to handle.
- Put the dough on a clean counter or mat and knead like your life depended on it until it becomes smooth like silk
- Divide into balls for colouring
- Add a few drops of chosen food colouring to each ball (make a hole for the dye) and kneed again (use gloves and protect the counter from the dye)
- Play with the playdough & store in Tupperware after you have finished (add water later if it becomes dry)
~ Keep it PG 13 please