photo credit: jc.westbrook

My grandmother tried to teach me patience at an early age through the use of arts and crafts. I did not know she was trying to teach me anything, but it sure was fun! This joy when craftign is somethign I wanted to share with my children as soon as they were old enough to give it a try. I try to make sure that we spend time with arts and crafts together, so we can have fun as we create wonderful things together!

In addition to all the fun, there are also significant learning opportunities with crafting. Some children, like my son, are not able to naturally hold scissors. Children develop at different rates and sometimes their fine motor skills need some honing to help them develop. So, having children cut with scissors helps to develop their hand strength and control, which will help them later on when writing, drawing, coloring, and even painting or sewing.

In addition to strengthening fine motor skills, there are other thigns that can be learned through crafting. Fostering creativity is an obvious one. Children need opportunities to be creative, where they can try out new and different ideas of their own. They will feel a sense of accomplishment when they are done with their project and are proud of the work they created!

Crafting can even help children to practice their reading and math skills as well. To follow a pattern, there are directions to be read and understood, so that they can be followed. They will also need to count and measure to make sure they have the right amounts of materials, which can further strenghen their math abilities.

I encourage you to craft with your children. Even if you learn to do something new with your child, the learning you experience together will leave fun memories in your child’s mind that will not be soon forgotten. Have fun creating and enjoy your time together!

About the author:    Alicia H. Tucker is a homeschool mom of three, after having taught in public schools for over ten years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a master’s degree in Education with a focus on Curriculum and Technology. She is a freelance writer and is currently working on writing her first book.

photo credit: Andres Rueda

Sewing by hand is becoming a lost art. It is something that is often handed down from one generation to the next; it is learned. My daughters (and also my son) are taught by me, I was taught by my mom, who was taught by her mom (my grandmother) and so on… back as far as we can remember.

So, if you are able to sew, try to make time to teach your children, even if it is just enough so that they can sew on a button, mend a pair of socks, or hem a pair of pants. Sewing by hand is one of those things that cannot be learned by just watching; you MUST do it and practice it in order to learn.

If you do not know how to sew, it may be worthwhile to you to find someone that can teach you, even if it is the basics. Even boys can benefit from knowing how to repair their buttons and holes and hems.

The teacher in me is always on a search for the educational value of the things I teach my children. So, what can be learned by learning to sew? First and foremost is hand-eye coordination. Your hands and eyes must work together to thread the needle and complete the task or project. Next, math skills will be used as well. What amount of thread, cloth, buttons, etc. will be needed? You could even help your children to calculate the cost of their projects. Reading and comprehension will be utilized if your children are using a pattern book or project sheet. If a task or project is being done for someone else or as a gift to charity, your children can also learn to care for others and show kindness to bring a little joy to the life of another. All of this from a little needle and thread and some time? Yes!

So, the next time you have something to sew, try to get your children involved. There is much to be learned and you can have some memorable fun in the process.

About the author:    Alicia H. Tucker is a homeschool mom of three, after having taught in public schools for over ten years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a master’s degree in Education with a focus on Curriculum and Technology. She is a freelance writer and is currently working on writing her first book.

photo credit: unfoldedorigami

Have you ever just given your child a pumpkin and let their imagination run wild? They can do amazing things with a pumpkin if you sit back and let thier imagination work.

The small pumpkins are just too cute.  You will normally find them in the produce department and often they look more like a fall decoration then anything else.

Next time you are at the store pick up a couple of these pumpkins and bring them home for the kids.  Although these tiny pumpkins are too small to carve. You can give each one a different face.  Pick up some non toxic paint and let the kids go to work.

You could also use different crafting supplies to decorate these little pumpkins.  You can use those funny little squiggly eyes, different colors of contruction paper, pipe cleaner, or may other craft supplies to turn these cute little pumpkins into beautiful centerpieces or you can put them around the house as full decorations.  If you happen to use non toxic paint you can later skin the pumpkinds and each them without making you sick.

The tiny pumpkins don’t bruise or dent. You could also use them for fun outdoor games instead of using the bigger ones.  You could play pumpkin bowl or or a fun game of pumpkin toss.  If you are going to play these games make sure you do it on a soft surface so that the pumpkins don’t get damaged.

You don’t have to use the actual pumpkin to play different pumpkin activities, you could just use the image of the pumpkin.  You could create felt pumpkins and hang them around the house.  You could also draw a pumpkin on a big piece of paper and draw in the eyes and mouth and play pin the nose on the pumpkin.

Since we know all kids love to cook you could have your kids get all the seeds out of a pumpkin and let them do roasted pumpkin seeds.  You can find that recipe here.

If there are some favorite neighbors or even some elderly couples in your neighborhood your kids could give away decorated pumpkins to them. They neighbors will love the gifts and the kids will feel very proud.

You can also take empty gallons of milk and cut the tops off and paint the whole jug orange and then paint black eyes, nose, and mouth. Add a little sand in the bottom and a votive candle and then you can use them to light your walk ways on Halloween night.

There is so much you can do with a pumpkin so you and your child sit down and have some pumpkin fun this halloween.

photo credit: Franklin Park Library

I wanted to share this super quick super easy way that you can make cute pumpkins that can be hung all over the house or maybe even at your childrens school.

What you need:

• Large Piece orange felt
• Small Piece black felt
• Small green wire about 18 gauge
• Fabric or felt glue
• Black or orange embroidery floss
• Batting or cotten balls

Instructions:

1. Cut two circles out of the orange felt.
2. Cut the nose, mouth,stem and eyes out of the black felt
3. Glue the nose, eyes, and mouth to the face of pumpkin
4. Take black floss and stich two circles together
5. Add stem to ton the top of pumpkin between the two circles. At the top and bottom of the pumpkin make the stickes a little tighter to make a pucker affect.
6. Leave small opening near the bottom and insert stuffing just to fill the pumpkin nicely but you don’t want it too huge.
7. Stitch closed
8. Take smalle piece of wire. Wind wire around a pencil and make like a coil or loose spring effect.
9. Put a little bit of glue at each end and then stick between the pieces of orange felt. Hold down and make sure glue dries completely.

TaDa It is complete. You have a beautiful stuffed pumpkin. Hand made and something you should be very proud of.