Arts and Crafts Activities for Children at Home
Whether it’s the weekend, summer vacation, or your children are homeschooled, it’s important to schedule in some fun time. In the year 2020, if you leave children unattended for long periods of time, you’ll find many of them are very content with just playing games on their phone or browsing the internet. There’s nothing wrong with smartphones, games, or other devices, but nothing can replace the sensory experience of playing in real life!
Arts and Crafts Education History
Have you ever wondered just where the idea of an art (and craft) education came from? Since when was this deemed important for children to learn? History is often full of details that lead to the next, but the gist of it was that the New Education Movement in late 1800s Europe adopted the ideas of a man named William Morris as well as his colleagues. Morris argued the value of the decorative arts and the importance of developing craftsmanship skills using simple objects. While not aimed at children, the ideas flourished and were picked up by the New Education Movement which introduced handicraft teaching in schools in Britain.
Shoot forward a hundred years or so and you’ll find these ideas about art and art education (as well as fostering industrial skills early on) have lived and spread throughout the world.
Most schools offer art education as part of the general curriculum and a focus on making things through arts and crafts or woodshop (in later grades) continues.
Parents who homeschool their children understand that it’s not just the purely academic things that are important for their children to learn. They also should experience the things children look forward to most, which are arts and crafts!
Here’s a few arts and crafts activities you can do at home to get you started.
Imagination Projects: Blank Books for Coloring
This is in some ways the epitome of what the arts are about for children. An enticing, colorful blank book to present to your child. Give them some crayons and have them do whatever it is that they want to do. It’s important to really understand the value of this. With things such as learning to spell or count, there are only right or wrong answers. There is no in between, you either spell a word correctly or add numbers correctly or you don’t.
With Hygloss Blank Books, there are no rights and wrongs. Children are free to explore their interests without boundaries and see where their imagination takes them. In a way, this is learning how to dream.
Construction Projects: Make Your Own Telescope Kit
It’s not just arts, it’s arts AND crafts. Coloring and drawing are great, but there’s something about making an actual object that really widens children’s eyes. The ability to make something and then use it is so fundamental to what the human mind is capable of.
We’re talking about kids here, though! So, forget all of that, this Make-Your-Own-Telescope Kit is just plain cool. The telescope is made from sturdy corrugated cardboard, which is sure to hold up to pressure. Inside is a sheet that has 80 stickers on it that your child can use to decorate their telescope to make it uniquely theirs! They’ll have fun running around spotting things with it, but you’ll also be fostering a love of science.
Paper Projects: Paper & More Treasure Box
Sometimes you just need a huge platter of things to really make things exciting. This Paper & More Treasure Box accomplishes that and more! With a variety of specialty craft papers and other popular craft items, for a couple of hours your children will forget all about smartphones and tablets and discover the joys of working with their hands.
Pair with our Snippy Scissors that come in both blunt and sharp tip varieties so that they’ll have no issue cutting and snipping through paper to create interesting projects. If I remember being a child correctly, just cutting through paper with scissors was really satisfying—aw, who are we kidding? It’s still satisfying.
Arts and Crafts Supplies Online for Homeschooling
Hygloss Products is a national provider of arts and crafts as well as educational supplies.
Whether your children go to school or are taught at home, there are no doubt times they will be spending at home such as the weekend or over breaks in which you’ll want to keep them entertained, busy, and stimulated to learn.
These arts and crafts activities are perfect for young children to continue their education at home without ever feeling like they’re doing homework!
Contact us if you have any questions about our products or have any questions for us!