Everyone loves cut and paste – if they get the chance to try it out. You get to choose images from a magazine, images that you really like. You get to use a scissor. You get to glue them together in a nice composition – and you get to keep them for ever. A friend of mine recently brought over her sister and her sister’s daughter Tindra. We had a great craft time together cutting and pasting in little books.
This is Tindra’s accordion folded book:
And here is the inside:
The most important thing to remember when doing any crafting with a kid, especially for kind moms, is that they are not helped if you craft for them. Helping is being encouraging, saying nice things, asking questions but avoiding judgment. It’s all about showing ideas and letting the child be in charge. Don’t be fooled even if they ask for help, they can do it. All the edges doesn’t have to be cut straight. It doesn’t matter if you get glue on your hands or the images wrinkled. All that matters is the joy of creating something on your own! Craft alongside with them, not for them!
And have fun together. That’s what we did.
Awe what a fab post Hannah, thank-you sweetie. My 5yr old daughter is a huge fan of journaling and collage, I swear she has about 10 books on the go at the moment tee hee. I sit back and let her get on with it and am so very proud of her – she constructs her pages intuitively and her composition is so very clever with her child’s eye and unthinking, free approach to what she does. Lol she is constantly raiding my stash and I love seeing what she can come up with. Ha ha we are planning a collaborative journal for the summer holiday and I promised her I would blog it too, I can’t wait!!
Huge hugs x
How lovely — the kids did great! Start ’em young. And you’re right — they are good at doing their own thing. Thanks for sharing.
I love to see my niece (6 years old) when she is crafting. She is always making collages of magazine cut-outs and adds her own drawings. When I am art-journaling or working on a mixed-media piece while she is collaging we take a look at each others work and I am amazed by here original ideas, while she is asking me how I create some of my pieces. Later I see her using the same techniques in her own way. She is a real artist (she says), but I think she really is!