Top Tip for Creative Craft making:
Have a box of craft material on hand and you don’t need to spend a lot of money. Always think of the child age and stage of development, keeping safety in mind particularly with young children. Add household items to your kit such as empty kitchen roll tubes, magazines, empty envelopes, used Christmas paper, yogurt cartons and egg boxes. Craft materials do not need to be expensive and many local discount stores have a fab range of low cost craft items.
Build your collection over time and think of including:
- Crayons
- Paints
- Paper
- Scissors
- Pens & Pencils
- Glue
- Cellotape
- Brushes & Sponges
- Play dough
- Buttons & Beads
- Wool, Ribbon & Fabric Scraps
- Old clothing for dress up
- Aprons
- Protective Table Covering (bin bags or old papers work great)
Remember that play in general and creative play in particular is serious work for children and is invaluable to their learning and development. It is often free, usually messy and always fun! So decide to have fun and adopt Love Parenting’s creative play motto.
DON’T GET STRESSY, JUST GET MESSY!!
What You Need Love Parenting’s Button Caterpillar Craft
- A long piece of string or wool
- Sewing needle
- Buttons, any colour or size
- Glue
- Coloured pipe cleaner
- Wobbly eyes
To Make
- Thread the needle with the string and tie a knot at the end.
- Pass the needle through one hole of the first button and pull up tight so the knot is close to the button.
- Continue to thread buttons onto the string passing the needle through only one hole of each button.
- When your caterpillar is long enough begin passing the needle back up through the other hole of each button.
- When the string has come back out of the first button tie another knot to keep all the buttons firmly in place.
- Glue on the wobbly eyes and twist the pipe cleaner around the back of the first button to make the antenna.
Remember don’t get stressy just get messy!
