As a board member at Lisa Ross Birth and Women’s Center I volunteered to host a craft table for children, at the 20th anniversary celebration that happened on Saturday. I wanted to do something interesting, using materials that didn’t cost a lot of money and even perhaps introduced some parents to the idea of natural crafting with children. Too often we rely on store-bought kits and the run of the mill preschool crafts seen over and over again. I wanted to do something seasonal, but different than your average turkey hand crafts where the parents are doing the hand tracing, directions of the glue and generally overseeing the process to get the results they had in mind.
After searching some Thanksgiving craft ideas on Pintrest, I adapted my own version of a Thankful Tree, for this event that attracted young children of varying ages.
I precut rectangular shapes of fall colored paper, provided leaf stamps, non-toxic washable ink and a child size place for them to sit. Stamping is something kids of all ages enjoy, and can do well. I had the challenge of coming up with a craft that didn’t require long drying times for glue or paint, since the kids would be walking off with it the second they were finished. And this fit that need perfectly.
Older and more advanced children were able to write things on the cards that they are thankful for. Younger ones just enjoyed the stamps. I also provided a scrapbooking hole puncher that cut holes like this -|| – perfect for looping yarn through and creating a way to hang the cards on the twigs. At home we made a larger version of this Thankful Tree using a glass vase and a branch large enough for the whole family, making it a group craft and time for sharing.
But for the children’s event I just used clear plastic cups (made from corn) and river rocks to hold the twigs in place. I knew the toddler aged children would love picking out rocks and putting into the cups, which they did.
To get my stack of twigs, because I knew the park where the event was being held had zero trees, I found a house in my neighborhood with a down tree and sifted through the stash.
Children who really got into the stamping, and were a little older, made banners like the one taped on to the table above. I provided a few blunt, dull needles used for embroidery work that children utilized to “sew” the cards onto yarn through the hole punches that so perfectly go like | |.
The punchers, and many other useful ones to add to your paper crafting stash, can be found in the scrapbooking isles at craft stores.
In addition to the Thankful Trees and leaf banners, children made birthday crowns to celebrate the LRBWC, drew on art boards placed on the ground with white paper taped to them, covered the concrete with sidewalk chalk art and strung bracelets and necklaces from wooden beads.
It was really fun spending this time with the children birthed at the LRBWC. I look forward to the next 20 years to come!
