Homeschool Handicrafts

                          

Hi there!  Back again today to explore something that we do almost each-and-every-day in our homeschool: handicrafts.  I find that whether we are doing an "official" artist study, or simply keeping hands busy and minds active during the lulls of our day, we reach for our arts and crafts supplies and really enjoy exploring.  It wasn't until recently that I discovered that this was truly a "thing"--Charlotte Mason, a late 19th century British educator and reformer championed for the use of handicrafts to teach "the whole" child.  (I'd encourage you to check out this blog to learn more and to gather even more ideas for handicrafts to do with your homeschool!)

If you would like a quick tour of our homeschool space and arts and craft closet, check out my video tour in this post here.  You will see that I try to keep our art supplies very well organized and labeled--not just for my sanity, but also for the kids to be able to read (or see, as many bins are clear) and grab what they need to take to their work space.  I find that this keeps the mess down and therefore the stress down, which is often what other homeschool moms grumble about when it comes to doing art with their children!

For today's post, I want to just go do a quick run through of most of the handicrafts we enjoy in our school room.  Some of these are very traditional while others are relatively new, but I find the balance and variety is truly key to the FUN!

• Perler beads--This seems to be one craft that the kids turn to over and over again!  They make party favors, stocking stuffers, and even made creations to sell to the neighborhood kids last summer.  You can find pattern books at craft stores, but the kids do just fine  by just searching for designs online and copying the picture on their bead boards!

• Wikki sticks--These little waxy sticks can be molded into all sorts of 3-dimensional shapes and objects.  There are also cards and workbooks you can buy that help you use these sticks to make letters and math graphs, too!  We have found you can smush them onto paper and make 2-dimensional pictures and designs with them, too (similar to quilling or yarn-and-glue art)

• Painting--We love acrylic, watercolor, tempura, and even oil painting.  Recently we've even tried using a rubber brayer to experiment with block printing (Hokusai style). I find that watercolor paper or mixed media art pad paper provide a better surface that is more durable and less frustrating for the kids than printer paper.

                                                     
                                                      

• Pastel chalks--This craft is a bit messy because of all the chalk dust, but it is fun to draw with these pastels, sort of in the style of Edgar Degas!

                                                    

• Drawing--The kids have several drawing books they pull out and use to learn how to draw people, animals, and all sorts of objects.  Our favorite is the Draw Write Now series, but Usborne publishes several we love, too!  There is also a great Star Wars Doodle Book we enjoy and have gifted many times over!

                                              

• Papercrafting--The kids like to use various color cardstock, paper punches, and decorative scissors to make paper creations, gift bags, scrapbooks, ornaments, etc.

                                                           

• Lapbooking--Similar to scrapbooking, this is a way to explore other subjects of school in an artistic way.  We like to use colored file folders for the book, and then adhere various pictures we have cut out to it using a gluestick or my favorite scrapbook adhesive.  This blog has a great tutorial on how to make lapbooks!

                                                    

• Sewing--My daughter recently received a sewing machine designed for children, and it has been fun for her to learn to do little projects on it.  I also am learning this skill, as well, on my regular machine and it has been fun to learn how to cut out patterns and sew things like pajama pants together.

                                                    

• Pottery--My son just received a pottery wheel and paints for Christmas.  He has enjoyed making a pottery dish on it, and we look forward to exploring this media more, even without the wheel, in the future (it uses air-dry clay). I was very impressed with how professional this wheel seemed and how it came with the paints and carving tools.

                                                         
                                                             

• Loom--potholder, rainbow loom--This is a handicraft that the kids love to do in their bedrooms before they go to sleep, either alone or together.  They make potholders and also loom bracelets and keychains and all sorts of creations.  It is also portable and great for car trips.

• Stamping--Since this is my personal favorite craft, we have lots of ink pads, stamps, and cardstock in our classroom.  The kids like to make pictures or stamp note cards with both clear polymer and rubber stamps.

• Play-doh--Everytime I think the kids have outgrown this medium, we find another use for it!  Just this week the kids broke it out and sculpted the Earth's layers--core, mantle, crust--as they explored their science memory work.

• Collage--construction paper, scissors, and glue are all you need for this project, but buttons, glitter, glitter glue pens, and more, can be used to be even more creative!  Here is a collage picture we made sort of in the style of Henri Matisse!

                                               

• Scratch art--this is a fun and clean way to make African masks or just doodle!

• Beading--We find that pony beads and pipe cleaners work great for preschool age kids, while stretchy string and smaller beads are more challenging for older kids to make bracelets, necklaces, or key chains or lanyards (great for the boys).

• Needlepoint--my oldest daughter is just getting to the point where she is trying out little embroidery and cross-stitch kits; plastic canvas and yarn are also an easy way to learn how to stitch pictures!

• Spirograph--another recent discovery for the kids that is fun and incorporates geometry!

• Miscellaneous--I keep a bin in our homeschool craft closet with random supplies--felt squares, pom poms, pipe cleaners, buttons, yarn, etc, just so the kids can go "free-style." I love what the kids have come up with from this bin; here are some neat mobiles and Star Wars felt characters...

                                                  
                                                    

• Cooking/Baking--I am including this because it is fun to get creative together in the kitchen, too!  

                                                    

• Nature journaling--each of the kids have a dedicated nature journal and we go outside to sketch leaves (or do leaf rubbings), bugs, flowers, etc, using graphite and colored pencils.   On this day, we didn't even make it off the deck--there were plenty of leaves and bugs in just this one spot :)

                                                    

                                                    

Well, I know that was a lot of information and pictures, but hopefully this has given you some tried-and-true ideas on how you can incorporate arts and crafts into your homeschool...without all the mess and stress!

Blessings!