Kids are little sponges, absorbing everything and anything they see around them, constantly learning new things and growing into little adults. Which is exactly why it’s really great to encourage kids to learn whilst they enjoy fun activities. All kids love crafts and most have at least one craft box full of paints, card, glue and glitter for those rainy afternoons when the newspaper comes out and the aprons get put on, or sunny days when picnics and painting is the order of the day. So why not use those times to help your kids learn with crafts? They will still be having tons of fun whilst improving their skills, so it’s a win win all round.
Here are 6 simple ways to help kids learn with crafts:
1. Chalks
Why not get kids to practise their art skills, writing or even maths using chalk. Chalk washes off stone and brick, so why not let them loose on the paving in the back garden? Write out simple maths sums and get them to write down the answer, or play a game of hangman to get them to practise spelling and the alphabet. The hands on nature of play will have them loving their learning, and the results will be washed away next time it rains – no cleaning necessary.
2. Paints
Painting is super fun for all kids, no matter what their age. Get young ones to be expressive and let them paint with their hands using non toxic paints from www.handyhippo.co.uk. Perhaps encourage them to finger paint their name, or make a lion out of hand prints. If they are a little older, you could encourage them to paint a story. Get around five pages of card and get them to invent a little story and paint the scenes of the story on the card, then when it’s dry you can punch holes in the side and thread it together to make a book. This will help them practise being creative, enhance their imagination and help their English too.
3. Clay And Dough
Clay and dough is great for kids who like to really get stuck in and make shapes. This is an ideal way to get kids to learn. Encourage them to make numbers from the dough, or make it into a game where you write the names of animals on cards, then both children pick one card and make the animal until the adult guesses which animal it is. You could also get the children to create little models of themselves, which encourages them to develop a sense of self.
4. Crayons
Crayons are always fun, especially when you get super creative with them. Why not have them take shadings of things outside, like grates or stones where they place a sheet of paper on top and shade across the paper to highlight the item underneath. If your child is a little older or more artistic, you could also replicate the story idea from the painting section above, and get them to hand draw their own story.
5. Random Household Items
Children need to learn all about shapes as part of their maths curriculum in school. Collect a bag of random household items like milk bottle tops, egg cartons and straws and get the children to create pictures from these items using glue and scissors (with your help and supervision). This will help them develop their imagination and encourage them to identify the different shapes of the different items and what they are called.
6. Outdoor Crafts
Every other day in the news we see more and more stories about kids who don’t spend enough time outdoors. So when they are young, it’s the ideal time to be getting them active and outside as much as possible. Gardening can be a really enjoyable activity for kids and it can help them learn about allsorts. Get them to paint their own plant pots and plant vegetables or sunflowers in them so they can be expressive and learn about how plants grow and where our food comes from. You could also make bird feeders or even mini compost containers so they can learn all about nature. Getting them outdoors to do activities not only saves you on the cleaning up, but encourages them to be more active and learn about the world they live in.
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