Titus 2 Christian HomeKeeper ™

by Wardeh Harmon

We don’t stop schooling entirely during the summer, but we do scale back a bit. Even though my kids spend a great deal of time outside during the summer, they still like to keep their minds and hands busy during the downtime. We try to have crafting afternoons every few weeks or once a month throughout all the summer months. Some of my childrens’ favorite memories are from our craft endeavors. They love to be included in my crafts and I love to see what they create. Their creativity always surprises me.

I encourage you to nurture the God-given creativity and imagination in your children. Set aside a few half-days during the summer for kid-friendly crafting. Look at your calendar at the beginning of summer and mark the days down ahead of time. Summers tend to pass by so quickly — you’ll be glad that you set aside the time early on.

I hope you enjoy a summer full of wonderful crafting with your children. Use the three ideas below to get your ideas flowing. I always welcome your comments, questions or suggestions. Please write to me at wardeh@t2chk.org or leave a comment below.

Scrappy Greeting Cards

Use half sheets of 8 1/2″ x 11″ cardstock in light and bright colors, folded in half for an invitation size card. The matching invitation size envelopes are available at office supply stores.

To embellish the cards, use any or all of the following: stamps and ink pads, markers, crayons, colored pencils, decorative scissors, paper punches, buttons, ribbons, craft wire, stickers, foam cut-outs, glue sticks or white glue.

It is easy to create a simple border for stamped images, to make them really stand out from the card background. Stamp an image or message on a separate piece of cardstock, then cut out or tear around that image and glue it onto a coordinating scrap of cardstock. Then glue this onto the card as the picture below illustrates.

The ink for the stamping can come from a stamp pad or markers. To use the markers as ink, color the rubber side of the stamp on the raised portion with the marker tip, being sure to cover all the rubber that will touch the paper. Just before stamping, breathe on it to moisten the ink. Firmly press stamp on paper — but don’t rock or tap it, just press firmly. Lift the stamp straight up so the image doesn’t smear.

The children can use paper punches in basic shapes — circles, squares, triangles — to create all sorts of flowers, insects and objects. Two great books that illustrate this, both of which I originally checked out from the library, are: Picture Pie and Picture Pie 2, both by Ed Emberley. This can become a separate craft afternoon all by itself, whether or not you use the ideas to make cards.

Children can use the cards they make for their own correspondence or put together sets of cards to give to loved ones as gifts.

Painting

You will need:

• An assortment of acrylic paint colors or watercolor paints for younger children
• Paint brushes
• Big sheets of paper — to paint on
• Assorted wood objects for painting — tea trays, jewelry boxes, paper mache boxes, plaques, door hangers, or picture frames, newspaper — to protect work surface
• Cups of water — one for each child to rinse brushes
• Foam disposable plates — one for each child as a palette
• Paper towels — for blotting
• Matte or glossy sealer spray — to varnish wood objects (optional)

You may want to make this an outside activity, depending on how mess-proof your dining or kitchen table is. Have each child wear old clothing so there is no worry about ruining nice clothing. A not-so-nice-anymore short- or long-sleeved button down man’s shirt works great as an art smock. Put in on the child backward and button it down the back.

Lay out newspaper at each child’s station to protect work surface. Also at each child’s station, put a couple of paper towels folded up and laid flat for blotting brushes, a cup of water for rinsing brushes, some paintbrushes, and a foam disposable plate with an assortment of acrylic paints squeezed out. Provide each child with a large sheet of paper or a wood object to paint. Younger children will probably do better with watercolor paints and paper.

The craft store can be a great source for wood or paper mache objects to paint. The Oriental Trader offers many natural items for painting that are available in lots.
Let the children adorn their paper or wood objects as desired. If painting a wood object, the child may wish to paint a base coat of white or a light color on the wood and let that dry before painting other colors or images.

Allow all paintings to dry thoroughly. Wash all brushes thoroughly in soapy water. Squeeze out the water by pressing brush flat. Allow to dry flat to retain shape.

Wood objects can be varnished with matte or glossy sealer spray that is available at craft supply stores. Mom or dad should perform this step following the instructions on the can for application.

Paper Punch Artwork

Use the books I mentioned above under Scrappy Greeting Cards to teach your children to use the basic shapes of circles, squares, and triangles to create flowers, animals, insects, trains, cars, trucks and many other objects. The books are Picture Pie and Picture Pie 2, both by Ed Emberley.

You will need cardstock in many different colors, square and circle paper punches in various sizes, scissors and glue. Let the children explore the ideas in the book first, by punching out the needed shapes and seeing how they fit together.

Once they’ve assembled some exciting objects, they can adorn larger paper items with the picture cut outs and turn them into placements, posters, story books, or gift bags. Some items, like the placemats or posters, you may want to consider laminating.

© Copyright 2006 by Wardeh Harmon. Used with permission from the author.