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Help! It's Half Term!

 Half-term on top of several weeks of home schooling ... well, it feels a bit much to be honest! I asked the #ConfinedCrafting followers on Twitter what crafts they like to do with kids... here's a round up of some ideas!


Sometimes simple is best - you can't beat a stack of blank paper and a fistful of colouring pens! There are some fantastic drawing tutorial videos on YouTube if the kids want to practice their artistic skills - Art for Kids Hub and Super Simple Draw are favourites of ours. Colouring books, magic painting (where water reveals the picture) and puzzles like wordsearches and mazes are also great boredom busters.


If you fancy making your own colouring in sheets, why not try making an abstract picture like this one:


Or experiment with creating optical illusions?


Another fun paper based activity is 'Finish the Photo' - cut out a person from a magazine or catalogue, glue them into the middle of a piece of paper and then draw in a scene around them or give them new clothes or hairstyles! Here's a great example from Art Projects for Kids:


Modelling and sculpting is another great activity for kids. This can be done with shop-bought playdoh, modelling clays or kinetic, 'magic' sand. Depending on your tolerance for mess, you can also make all of these things yourself. There are lots of recipes for salt dough, playdough and so on. I have found that the cream of tartar playdough is the best type but there are so many recipes to experiment with.


The added fun of doing a salt dough project is painting and decorating it once it is baked or hardened. Happy and Handcrafted has a recipe for a homemade clay that is similar to salt dough but produces a smoother finish.


Another suggestion on Twitter was to try textiles based crafting - especially good for those of us who aren't keen on seeing their kitchen turn into a mess of paint, glitter and flour! Felties are a great place to learn simple sewing techniques, like this example shared to the #ConfinedCrafting Twitter thread by @MariaSienk: 


There's a lovely round up of felt based projects - both sew and no-sew - on the Meraki Lane blog.

Other fabric based crafts might include weaving - combine it with your daily walk and try branch weaving. Or make a bracelet using wool and drinking straws! 


This blog is always interested in upcycling or recycling crafts and luckily kids love a bit of box modelling! Save some cardboard boxes, yoghurt pots and drinks bottles, give them scissors, tape, glue and paint, and let their imaginations run free! In our house we usually end up making houses or dens for our small cuddly toys, but as @DaneAnne demonstrates there are so many options...


There's a great round up of ideas for turning tin-cans into wind socks, stilts or bird feeders here, and as for toilet rolls, well the possibilities are endless!

@DaneAnne also suggested getting a head-start on crafting for Easter. We'll look at some ideas in our next post!

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