Growing Crafty Kids

As everyone who knows me, I am one crafty obsessed Mama with 2 children - Lucas (nearly) 9 yrs and Mollie 7 years. The kids have see me craft all their life. If I am not sewing, I am knitting, if I am not dyeing I am toymaking….and how has this impacted on the kids??

Mollie is one crafty girl. She role models A LOT of what I do. She sews pressies without being asked, she knits in front of the telly, she dyes her own fabric and gets very excited at a parcel of craftness arriving at the gate.
She thinks handmade first..everytime! I wrote a post on the Crafty Mama forum about this a couple months ago. She knows the value of making special individual gifts.

Now my boy…well he is a kinda legoing, slot cars, race around the house on his scooter kinda boy. He loves seeing what we create and has a lovely smile when he comments positively on the creation. He asks for Mama made shirts and shorts every time and gets particularly excited when I pull out the yarn winder - see, it is mechanical. He makes handmade cards for presents but mainly leaves the craftiness to Mollie and Me.
But boy, you should see what he can create with some Lego blocks and an engine!

When they were little, we always had an art and craft table and cupboard . In this cupboard there was paper (all kinds), Lyra pencils and crayons, watercolour paints and brushes, canvases, glitter, pop sticks, exercise books, beeswax crayons, sticky tape, scissors etc etc etc. It was one full cupboard and it was well used. We also had a portable wooden easel for outside craft.
Yes it used to get messy but the kids were always busy.

We are really a crafty family. The Dad of the house builds, maintains and services just about everything. We have Dad made book cases, wooden flyscreens, extension (really, I should written that one first J) sheds, gardens, tables and his current hobby model trains…which Mollie and I are keen to get into some scene building. The kids have seen nothing else so they think ‘Do It Yourself’ is normal.

I am not sure what will happen when they get to teenagers and young adults but I think if you encourage, support and embrace ‘being creative’ it has to be a positive influence on a child's life!
(particularly with so many TV and gaming stuff available for children now a days)

That is our crafty family in a nutshell….join in, tell us how your family embrace craftiness and creativity!!

x Lissylou