What Crafts Teach Your Child

From the preschool stage our children learn to create objects through crafts. This time we will talk to you about the contributions that these activities offer to the development of your children.

Although they are fun activities, crafts are one of the best ways for children to learn colors, sizes, textures, geometric shapes, drawing and tearing techniques.

That is why it is recommended, even before the child begins his school stage, that we encourage them to carry out any activity of this type.

In this way we will be providing opportunities to develop the mental and physical skills of our little ones. Is there a better reason than this to make crafts?

However, on various occasions as parents we tend to make the mistake of preventing our children from doing the manual activities assigned to them at school on their own.

With the excuse that it is late and we can do it faster and better, we can become an obstacle for our little ones to develop fully. Given the risk of harming the development of our children, we want to explain what are the reasons why your child should do crafts.

Allow your child to develop their physical and mental skills by doing the crafts

Benefits of making crafts

Following are the benefits that are obtained when making crafts:

Concentration.  Doing any manual activity requires a certain degree of concentration, depending on the complexity of the object to be designed. For children who can be scattered and restless, crafting can help them focus their attention and energies on an object, and inadvertently be channeling their emotions effectively.

Coordination.  When a child is preparing to make crafts, he must analyze certain elements such as what he wants to design, what materials he has on hand, what are the steps to follow to meet the objective. This is a small plan of action that will help you strengthen the connections between your brain, your eyes and your hands.

Creativity. Even when a child is told what to do, he will have a chance to imagine how to do it. For example, if it is a matter of lining a box, the child can decide what elements he will use to decorate it, according to his imagination.

In the case of children over five years of age, the craft process can be reversed, you can offer a series of items and ask them to do whatever they want with those materials. You will be surprised to see what they can create.

Fine motor.  It is related to the movements of the hands and fingers, so crafts are the best way to develop this type of motor skills that requires great precision.

The activities in which small objects such as corn kernels, pencils, stickers, brushes are used are perfect for children to perfect the technique to grasp these instruments.

Crafts for kids

Crafts for 2- to 3-year-olds

Fill geometric shapes.  Take three leaves and in each draw a simple geometric figure (circle, square and triangle), cover the drawing with a little glue stick and ask your child to fill the figure with confetti, grains of corn, rice or any other another small product to take with your thumb and index finger.

Crafts for four to six year olds

Design a puzzle.  Draw a simple landscape or cartoon character with a thick-tipped marker. Using a pencil and a ruler, divide the drawing into medium squares (5 × 5 centimeters) and ask your child to cut out the squares with a round-tipped scissors.

Once he has them, let him paint and decorate them with colors, watercolors, stickers, and glitter. When you’re done, you can put the drawing back together.

Crafts for seven to ten year olds

Origami figures.  The special cardboard for crafts is the only thing you will need to teach your child to create 3D figures with the technique of doubling. If you are not an expert in this Asian art, do not worry since on the Internet you can get videos with origami tutorials, so you and your child can have fun learning together to design animals, flowers, small boxes and the most incredible figures.

The alternatives for making crafts are endless. It is only a matter of knowing what activities your child can do, according to their age, so that together they discover the most fun ways to learn.