Partner Article

5 craft activities to strengthen parent/ child bonds

Craft activities are a great way for children to be creative and use their imaginations: they are also perfect ways to have fun and spend time together. Best of all, craft time will stimulate your child intellectually, making it easier for them to think and concentrate on other tasks. There are a lot of craft projects that are great fun, for both you and your child!

It is important that you choose craft activities which are matched to your child’s age, otherwise they may get bored or disinterested. What is most important is for your child to learn, try new things and of course, spend fun, quality time with you!

Here are 5 great craft activities which really help you and your child play together:

1. Toddlers will love making a noise – find an old, empty container with a lid and turn it into a drum. This will help you think creatively too, and find other things lying around the house that will make a variety of sounds for your child to explore.

2. Drawing and painting are great ways for younger children to have fun. Try finger paints – these can be used on hands and feet, so don’t be afraid to get messy! A great tip if your kids are always drawing on the walls is to hang a strip of paper on a wall or door – easy access to a life-sized canvas!

3. If you have a five or six year old, they might enjoy a puppet show using characters that your child has created (or just use ones from stories they already know). Why not find some old empty boxes to create a stage, and use old socks for puppets? Decorate the puppets with anything you can find – wool, felt, buttons, anything! This will encourage your child’s imagination through storytelling, and their creativity when making the puppets.

4. Older children around 7 or 8 may be a little more inclined to want to do ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ activities. If this is the case, then there are still plenty of options. Girls might enjoy sewing or creating jewellery – making friendship bracelets is simple, and you can make one for each other.

5. Boys might like to make something involving scientific concepts. One great idea is a working paper-mache volcano: newspaper, paints, an empty plastic bottle make the volcano, and baking soda and vinegar make the volcano erupt. The same science can be used in making a bottle rocket blast off!

Not only will your child have lots of fun, but these ideas all use things you probably have lying around the house, so they’re cheap to do (good arts and crafts suppliers like Galt have a range of craft pack in the unlikely event you have a super-tidy house).

Making time for art and crafts can really strengthen that parent/child bond, as well as giving you some important time to cut loose and remember how much fun it was to be a kid!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James Mechan .