If I poll my friends, one of the biggest mom guilts or even insecurities that I hear is, “I’m not a crafty mom.” It can be such a strong guilt that it led me, a homeschool mom, to send my first born to preschool so she could get a good dose of crafting in her. I’m not gonna lie, there were other motivations involved, but that was a big one.
But why is crafting so hard? I would argue that the creation isn’t the problem, it is the overwhelm with prepping and then cleaning up the project that’s even mentally hard to overcome. No store lets you buy just 10 popsicle sticks, 1 oz of paint in 4 colors, and 5 puff balls. Noooooo, you have to buy the whole package which gets expensive real fast. Furthermore, it’ll turn you into a craft hoarder in no time . . . like me.
Well, I have an easy solution for you to get crafty in no time just in time for summer to get those little minds engaged and busy. All the materials you need come in a small packet in just the right quantity, including paint brushes and wax paper to protect your working surface when needed. Instructions are provided with a list of materials, easy to follow steps that even the kids can follow alone, step by step images, and any required warnings. Set up and clean-up is minimal! Plus, you’d also be supporting local business.
S and J Arts and Crafts offered us three fun kits to experience, review, and share with you. I have to
admit, the kits sat on my table for a few days because I anticipated a messy process which often tests my patience with my kids. But once the craft kits were out, we were rolling in no time and the best part is that the kids needed very little engagement from me. That’s huge. All you distance learning and homeschool parents know what I’m talking about. Am I right?! Everything we needed was in the craft kit packet in just the right quantities. There were no extra materials to store! Even my 10 year old had a blast with these crafts. May I add, the price is phenomenal!
The first craft my daughter did was the Earth Day Salt Paint. Such a great concept! I’ve never heard of painting on salt. The project had just a few steps. I love that it is visual, sensory, and you can even taste it (the salt) if you’d like. All it takes is spreading glue over an image, spreading salt evenly over the glue, painting the salt with water colors once the glue is dry, then over lay the image with a velvet layer decorated with glow in the dark star stickers. It didn’t occur to us until later that we could have taken it up a notch by using glow in the dark glue.
The second craft my daughter did was Spring Mosaic Suncatchers using contact paper. The cut outs provided by S and J Arts and Crafts were just beautiful. If you’re not a Cricut or Silhouette Cameo guru but still attempt to cut your own templates, trust me you are in for a time consuming and possibly frustrating experience. These templates were beautiful and perfect and the best part is that someone else made them. Just looking at these cut outs was so visually pleasing to my daughter and I.
To make this craft, all we had to do is lay down the contact paper sticky side up, press down the template on it right side down, cut tissue paper to stick within the border of the template, lay another contact paper sticky side down over the finished product, and then cut out the resulting sandwiched shape. Again, I didn’t have to purchase a roll of contact paper and perfectly measure out squares that fit the cut outs, I didn’t have to produce or purchase the cut outs, and the steps were so simple and engaging that it bought me quite a few minutes of peace and quiet.
My 6 year old son did the last craft, the American Flag Magnet. He only needed me to help him glue the popsicle sticks together. Once that was ready, I quickly explained the color sequence and showed him the images on the instruction page. I carefully opened the paint containers on the wax paper provided and let him go at it. He was so proud to see his finished product. My daughter went and grabbed some popsicle sticks from her stash and decided to make one too because we had plenty of paint to make more.
These crafts brought my kids so much joy and left me feeling like I’m winning! Head on over to S and J Arts and Crafts and stock up on crafts for the month. The crafts are so fun, the pricing is so affordable, and the process is so easy that you’ll definitely go back for more.
