Gift Ideas for Crafty Kids: Arts and Crafts Teach Children
Gifts that Help Children Learn Through Arts and Crafts
Encouraging creating through arts and crafts helps children learn to accomplish things they imagine. The value of learning all that comes from exercising the creative side of their brains when they learn new skills and practice following instructions cannot be measured.
The satisfaction that comes from seeing projects go from start to finish inspires children to look for more opportunities to think and create. The sense of a job well done when others, especially the grown ups in their lives, have positive responses to their creative work strengthens their determination to go forward in life.
It takes time, however, to peruse the stores and the web for just the right item. Take a look at the following kits, books, and sites to find gifts that help inspire kids to create. Let them break out of the commercialized molds society tries to put them in and give them the chance to reach for a bright, productive future.
Gifts that Will Inspire Kids' Creativity
From stocking stuffers to heirloom crafts, from little ones to big kids, from individuals to groups, these crafts are big hits. Many are prepackaged kits, but a few are crafts that could easily be made into kits by parents, grandparents, or teachers.
Believe it or not, the best thing about this list is that it is not comprehensive. Even if you find something that is just what you want, use it as a springboard to continue learning about what is available to teach kids to create and reach for the stars. Then, feel free to report back here with your info!
Making Believe During Playtime:
• Children can create masks for role playing with this kit.
• A kit for making leaf crowns can inspire elementary writing projects.
• These preprinted zoo masks are ready for crayons and markers.
• This hat making kit comes with tons of craft projects on a CD.
• Farm puppets help toddlers connect their hands to their thoughts.
Help Kids Explore Drawing:
• Even if a kid thinks they are a klutz, show them they can draw!
• For travel, eating out, and waiting times this a neat quiet-time activity drawing book.
• This kit's drawing supplies are kid tested!
• Kids can learn to be more creative!
• A child's drawing confidence will expand exponentially with this kit!
• Purposeful illustrating for kids.
Seasonal Themes:
• Making up kits for this nativity project would be easy, yet it is a stand-alone that kids will love.
• Creating homemade star and snowflake ornament kits for kids can brighten their holidays.
• Brightly colored turkeys from this kit will delight kids of all ages.
• Kits for making spring flower streamers teach skills and provide decorations.
For Birthdays and Parties:
• Making paper airplanes for high flying party guests.
• Creating with foam brings party time to a new level.
• An enchanted story book that guests can personalize.
• Build a castle with color for party time creating.
• Create cookies for fun party snacks.
Learning and Exploring with Activities:
• A big batch of crafty art supplies that lets kid's imaginations run wild.
• A spiral bound letter art book that supplies kids with designs and project ideas.
• A guided painting project that inspires young artists to imagine big things.
• Don't forget the value of quality puzzles that teach facts with activity.
How important do you think it is for children to create art projects?
Crafting Naturally:
A wind chime kit like the one shown is a great introduction to combining art with nature. It also is an idea starter for using garden items and natural elements such as pebbles, leaves, and branches found on a hike for art projects.
• This gardening lab of lessons takes kids beyond drawing ideas.
• Going buggy doesn't get much better than being able to color your own bug stickers!
• Designing a garden setting motivates kids on several levels.
• Attracting birds is easy with this craft for children.
• Pinwheeling nature fun comes from crafting these flowers and bugs.
Wood and Clay Arts and Crafts:
• Pottery tools help teach them real pottery skills.
• Play-Doh's Breakfast Time Set creates smiles as it encourages young chefs.
• This Activity Kit mixes wood and clay giving children a hands on experience.
• Give a child the feel of creating with wood using this Wood Yo-Yo Kit.
• Find a pottery class and give a gift certificate to introduce a child to this tactile craft.
Besides Giving Craft Kits, Consider Books for Encouraging Art in Little Hearts
Art activities in books such as the one shown encourage young artists to expand their skills and their imaginations. Helping them discover the fact that they can increase their competence give them confidence to pursue exploring their abilities.
• The I Love Dirt activity book is packed with ideas for creatively involving kids with nature.
• Hands on History is a resource book filled with teacher approved activities.
• A Book About Art Oops encourages kids to be creative when they think they've goofed.
• Castle: A Fold-Out Kingdom makes imaginations go wild with its working catapult.
• Making Amazing Art introduces young artists to elements of art that will make their work impressive.
• Color Your Own Cezanne allows children to experience a master's work.
• Art Lab for Kids contains 52 creative art lessons for all ages and is loved by parents and teachers alike.
• Online guides for drawing drawing horses can allow kids to make their own book.
• Discovering Great Artists and its 110 art projects lets kids experience history's styles and techniques.
An Endless Stream of Arts and Crafts Activities for Kids:
Pinterest deserves its own slot when it comes to finding projects and activities for children. Perusing the boards specifically built for kids projects is a lot of fun all by itself! Learn more about using paper, rocks, and scissors--along with glue, tape, wood, felt, paint, pencils, ink, light, plastic, cardboard, beads, bubbles, and more!
Set up your own board like mine to keep track of your favorite children activities from across the web. You can use it to introduce your kids craft idea hubs to others, as well as to get new ideas for writing hubs.
On-The-Go Art with Technology:
Learn About Helping Kids Learn Through Art
• Read about kids learning skills through art.
• What's happening with home educators and art?
• How does art make kids smart?
• Safety first is a crafty theme–use a great guide.
Maybe you have a kid's craft idea that you could share in the comments below. If so, don't hesitate–we would love to hear about it!
Preschool Balloon Stamping:
More Hubs with Ideas for Creative Kids:
• Virtual legos for everyone is full of learning opportunities.
• Kids Thanksgiving crafts offer seasonal fun and learning.
• Christmas stocking crafts provide holiday fun for children.
Paint Project for Little Ones:
Get Mathematically Creative with Legos!
• Free Lego math activities, games, and lessons for kids can help young students understand math concepts and make them love doing it!
Beyond Childhood with Arts and Crafts
• Creating gifts from Your Hobbies and Talents offers great ideas for creative expression.
• Think about the importance of providing children with supplies to give them experience with a variety of creative activities. Where can arts and crafts take children?
Share Your Craft Ideas for Kids:
My kids love to use toilet paper rolls, cards to make simple crafts
This is a great hub for parents and teachers alike, particularly like the idea of mask making !
Great list of gift ideas! I want a lot of these kits and projects for myself :) Thanks for sharing this - pining for holiday gift ideas!
You are so right...kids learn so much from crafting and they love it. My grandbaby and I have so much fun. We always make gifts for his Momma, Daddy, and Bubby.
His Momma does many crafts with him too.
These are great ideas....sharing voted up++++ and pinned
You've packed so many great ideas for crafts for children. I agree that it is such a good idea to expand their creativity, boost self-esteem, build skills that can be used in a lifetime, and increase joy.
Crafts and kids are a great combination. Thanks for the wonderful suggestions.
Very inspiring hub and very creative as well. I'll show this hub to my students. Thanks for writing and sharing with us. Voted up :-)
Prasetio
You have included so many good ideas and projects! Great hub! And as you have pointed out, helping children become creative and 'break out of the commercialized modes' is all-important to a child's development. Voting up, useful, awesome, interesting and Pinning.
I voted very important and also useful. Great hub & worth sharing.
Such a great Hub! My children prefer arts and crafts over any other gift. They each received How to Draw books a couple of years ago and still use them to draw art. They love it!
Great suggestions. Thanks for explaining how helpful arts and crafts are. Good for adults, too. Very timely, now with school out in most places!
RT - This is absolutely fabulous. What a wealth of ideas, projects, supplies and kits you have given us. And I have three grandchildren!
I often give them books and educational videos, but this would be a wonderful change for them and for me.
Just yesterday I found a Hub with four different low sugar oatmeal cookie recipes, I plan to invite all three over and have a healthy cooking party. Thanks for such a terrific hub. Take care. Sharing. Theresa
Great hub! You present so many cool projects to make with children - my favorite thing is doing art with kids! Voted up!
Thank you for all the great ideas ^_^ My son just loves arts and crafts and he would have a blast with these! Voting up and useful.
WOW! You have shared so many wonderful creative ideas for little ones.. thank you :) My 4 yo little one will do stuff like this but his focus tends to be limited to whatever he is "into" at the time- usually it's making a train. He doesn't like to try new things but we are working on it. I recently got him to paint a couple of pumpkins and a bat for Halloween with tempura and watercolors so was happy about that! Thank you for sharing.. will be keeping these in mind :)
I think it is very, very important to get kids interested in crafting arts. Your suggestions here are good and I hope parents will take to using some of them to increase a child's interest. It helps to build fine motor skills as well. Good hub post.
I think it is great for children to do crafts. They learn and they have pride in their work. Awesome hub.
What a great variety of ideas and presented so well, too. It's important for children to begin experiencing the joys of creativity at a young age and your hub gives lots of encouragement.
What a great hub! I love the idea of crafting with kids. This past summer, I was craft lady at VBS. It was such a thrill for me. Since my nieces were tee tiny, I've done craft projects with them. You have some really great ideas listed here. Thanks for sharing this. I'm sharing with my friends.
Great hub and so well done, it is good to help grow creativity in kids and your hub will be a great inspiration for that with all it's great ideas.
Vote up and more !!!
I am all for anything that gets kids doing crafts. Wonderful ideas for the holiday season, the gift that keeps on giving. Great hub!
This is great. I am for gifts like this, because it is so good for children to, as you say, inspire creativity. Too many gifts I think are thrown at children that are so expensive they fit the bill of good gift but offer nothing of any benefit
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