Creative Children

Carrying on from yesterdays post I thought today I would think about crafting with children.  My children all love to make things, my eldest son loves to bake, my younger son is always doodling and drawing and my three daughters love all things crafty.  For Christmas I  brought each of three daughters a little polka dot suitcase and filled it with ribbons, beads, fabric scraps, felt and for my three year old chunky crayons and glitter glue aswell.  They have now added to their collections with patterned papers, buttons and lots of other little bits & pieces, including squares of wrapping paper salvaged from the eldests birthday.

My mother taught me to knit and bake and my grandmother taught me to sew and embroider, so I think it's important to pass on skills to my own children.  Both my sons can sew on a button, a skill I must teach my husband!  I have always encouraged all of my children to be creative, never shying away from toddlers and paint and not shouting when I found my sons colouring in the wall when they were 2 and 3!

There are lots of great kits out there for children to make things or you could just buy some card, glitter glue , beads and ribbons and there are plenty of free backing papers that can be downloaded to help them get creating.

Crochet Taster Kit

Crafty Treats Jar

both available from Rachel Henderson Crafts

Mini Bunting Kit

available from Sew Recycled

Make your own Sock Hopper

available from Made by Kate

Children's Card Making Kit

available from The Blithe Bee

Owl Sewing Kit

Russian Doll Painting Kit

both available from Kit and Caboodle Design

Hours of fun!!!

Bold Prints

Excitement ensued this morning as the Mini Boden catologue landed on the doormat and soon disappeared with my daughters armed with pens to mark their favourites.  I too adore bold, bright prints and wanted to find other gorgeous things for children to wear.  To my delight I found some fantastic clothes, beautifully made and affordable.  Whilst we can all pop to the high street or the supermarket and get a good selection of childrens clothes, we are missing some beautiful pieces, that are not mass produced but are lovingly created. 

Available from http://www.righthand.folksy.com/

Available from http://www.angelicfolk.folksy.com/

And it's reversible!

Available from http://www.groovygurlz.etsy.com/

Cool Britannia

Available from http://www.lillipopsdesigns.etsy.com/

Also from this designer

If you are feeling inspired to create  a new wardrobe for your children there are some great patterns available in these books:

Making Children's Clothes by Emma Hardy

Little Stitches for Little Ones by Amy Butler

Weekend Sewing  by Heather Ross

Also try Oliver + S patterns for some contemporary designs.