What are the best arts & crafts for kids?

This article explores different art & crafts ideas for 'kids' split into several age groups.

Aged 4 - 7

At this age, kids are able to manipulate basic crafting tools and understand about glue, paint, felt tips etc. The best activities are explained below:
Hand and foot painting Care must be careful to use non-toxic paint and a high amount of supervision is required, as plenty of clean water is used. Other cleaning supplie may be needed when spills happen. The children's parents should be aware their clothes may get covered in paint. Small animal foam crafts kits These are readily available from pound shops and involve gluing, using non-toxic PVA glue, felt, foam and 'pom pom' components together to create a variety of animals and other creatures. Tip Another good choice is to look at the non-toxic, air dry, polymer clays such as Crayola's clay. This gives kids the chance to create and take home their own models.

Ages 8 -11

At this level children are becoming more Independent ). Air dry clay is fun for all ages, including adults. Although painting is more likely to be painting with brushes, similar care and supervision is still required.With access to suitable processing equipment ( which would be worked by adults only ) children at this age may be interested in the magic of photography. There are two ideas they can execute. The first is a pinhole camera which can be made by the children with card and tape, and the second is to place objects on photographic paper and expose them to light. This can create interesting pieces of art. Other crafts which kids at this age may be interested in include sewing, scrap booking, card making, and jewelery making. While scrap booking and card making would use the same techniques, all activities must be suitably themed for their age range. Jewelry making would involve simple kits, primarily using elastic and beads.

Ages 11 - Adulthood

More elaborate types of the crafts mentioned before will still be popular at this age. For example, would-be artists will start exploring proper techniques and materials that would be familiar in any art gallery or exhibition. At this point, the range of available crafts is vast, unusual ones which are available on courses include pottery and basketry. Obviously the amount of supervision will drop off markedly from 11 through to adulthood, with more sophisticated crafts requiring precision as the key element to producing a really valuable artistic craft.

Conclusion

As can be seen in this article, the number of crafts available for children is huge. Some crafts require specialist facilities but these are available through schools, universities or private organisations such as ArtSpace Coventry.