Benefits of crafts activities for kids

 Crafts activities can provide hours of fun for kids if supervised properly.

There are so many reasons why we should encourage our kids to participate in craft activities.  Crafts projects help open door to creative process which helps later in skill development required for a successful life.

Here are few benefits of crafts activities:

• Brilliant for fine motor development, verbal skills, muscle coordination, concentration, achievement: One of the most important developmental phases for children is that time when they begin to master basic motor skills and eye-hand coordination. Learning to use fingers and hands deftly is an ongoing process which can be helped along through a variety of activities, including crafting.
• Learning to follow directions: While plenty of craft projects are flexible enough to allow children to explore their ingenuity, most of them involve a set of instructions that must be followed in order to produce the final product.
• It’s fun: Having fun is a cornerstone of childhood, and its value should never be discounted when coming up with interesting activities for children to explore
• Form of expression/ form of creativity
• ˜Takes them away from the TV”
• Something is produced so spouse other people can see kids been doing things ( daycare)
• Open ended art
• Enjoying the process, being creative, making decisions, using their hands
• Expectation
• Arts and crafts activities are a series of problem-solving activities. Kids are presented with a goal, perhaps a painting or a model. Using a method and a set of skills they either recreate this item or design an entirely new piece of artwork. Children must find ways to interpret and identify the best way forward from a whole set of ideas. As they proceed, they are constantly discovering the laws of cause and effect. The young artist will often have to think laterally and may have their perseverance tested. In other words, every craft project is one big problem to be solved so that it results in a real sense of achievement.
• Crafts are also a great way to keep kids occupied. Arts and crafts activities may be particularly valuable for more active children. The activities demand patience and results are only achieved with effort and time. It means that arts and craft activities provide a valuable opportunity for concentration and quiet time.

Useful links and resources:

* Benefits of Creative Activities for Children

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How to prepare a crafts friendly environment for your kids at home?

You can encourage your kids to create or make the crafts projects. To start it just prepare corner in the room as 'crafts space' enabling him/her to check the things ready for crafts activities. You need to start describing few activities or project yourself so that your children get inspiration. Creativity starts at that point when kids see a lot of available stuff and simple or basic tips, ideas to start their own crafts projects.

Here's a list of what to set out and how to organize it all:

• Fill a small basket with stickers and small accessories to go with the theme. (Pipe cleaners, fun foam shapes, googly eyes, felt, Popsicle sticks, etc.)

• Fill a small container (plastic) with the glue "stuff" (glue stick, white glue, tape)

• Provide a small container or basket for markers, crayons, pencil crayons, sharpener, and such.

• Use a flat tray to hold all of the paper items (construction paper, paper bags, paper plates, copy paper, newsprint etc.).

• On painting days, lay out his smock, paint tray (for poster or finger paints use an ice cube tray), paint brushes, water container (plastic), sponges, stamps and wet wipes for quick clean ups.

• For a more complex craft or activity, make a sample craft for him or her to look at for ideas.

Try to match the Theme with whatever you are learning about that week (reptiles, apples, holidays and such). There is no right or wrong when it comes to crafts—just have fun!