How I Was Able To Say Yes To Crafts and My Sanity

Do your children love crafts and activities? Do you secretly (or not so secretly) dread doing them because of preparation or clean up? That was the situation in my house but I want to share a few tricks that I’ve been using to make it easier to say yes to their desire to craft without losing my sanity.  With summer almost here I know they will want to spend a lot of time doing crafts.

First, I keep supplies on hand and easily accessible so that I do not have to worry about needing a trip to the store to get materials for basic crafts. We have a closed cabinet in our dining room that houses the children’s craft supplies. It is low enough for the children to get to the supplies on their own, has shelves and drawers to help with organization, and closes up so that no one can see when that organization falls apart (just keepin’ it real). This has made a big difference for me because now when the kids ask to paint I can say yes even if I’m not able to stop what I am doing to get out everything they need.  For younger children, you may simply want a small box of craft supplies that are safe for their use and easily accessible. For example, you might put paper, children’s scissors, crayons, beads (assuming they are old enough not to put them in their mouth), pipe cleaners, and stickers.

One of my biggest hurdles to saying yes to crafts was always the mess. I loved to watch them have fun and be creative but I dreaded the clean up that followed. I started doing a few things that made a big difference in clean up. First, you probably know that the disposable Dollar Tree tablecloths work great for protecting tables but have you thought of putting them on the floor. They catch the drips of paint, the run away glitter, scraps of paper, etc and can simply be shaken out in the trash can or thrown away depending on the level of mess. Even easier than dollar tree table cloths, is crafting outside. This only works in good weather but my children love to take paints and such outside and work. I love it because not only does it keep them from creating a huge mess in my kitchen but they get fresh air and being outside often sparks some additional creativity.

The other big obstacle that I faced was over complicating things. I would often feel like I needed to find a big project and sit down and show them each step. Don’t get me wrong, we still do art projects together like Zirrly Super Beads or chalk art pastel lessons. However, in their free time they enjoy just taking their supplies and using their creativity. When I took the pressure of having to plan something off and just started letting them use their imaginations it was much easier to say yes to craft time and not feel like it was driving me crazy.

What tips and tricks do you have for saying yes to craft time without losing your sanity? I’d love to have you share your favorite ideas in the comments!

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