Right, hands up – who enjoys craft? Any craft really? Me? I enjoy a bit of envelope pimping with washi tape/coloured pens/stickers. I enjoy a bit of doodling here and there (not totally craft but it involves pen and paper). I even made a bit of miniature paper bunting to send to one of my #postcircle ladies!
I surprised myself completely a week or so ago and made a bracelet from some buttons I was sent:
That is pretty much the extent of any sort of artistic flare I have.
OK, another question. Who enjoys craft with children? Me? I hate it! Loathe it! The mess, the stress and the equipment! Eurgh no! I know what you are thinking “Oh her poor girls missing out!” I didn’t say I don’t do it with them, I just despise it!
My top most hated craft – painting! First of all I seem to have naff brushes so when the brush comes out of the pot the bristles are left behind. I try to have a brush in each pot but it’s always inevitable there will be one less brush than pot. Then there’s the hunting for newspaper to cover the table, the removing of any soft furnishings in the immediate area and the digging out of the painting apron. Long sleeved painting aprons are rubbish! The sleeves are always too long. Always! If you roll the sleeves the poor child has a stiff cuff of plastic around their chubby wrists. And how do you wash the apron? THEY ARE NEVER CLEAN! Then Miss B does something which makes my left eye twitch – she mixes the colours! No no no!!! Don’t mix the colours! Her painting then ends up a sludgy green/brown colour. The paint is not evenly spread so big thick glops of paint run down the middle and of course she paints the whole piece of paper so it’s impossible to pick up! I leave the ‘painting’ to dry on the newspaper and when it is dry, half the newspaper is stuck to the painting too! I really should just give her one pot full of brown paint and a brush!
Second top – play-doh (other brands are available)! It’s the feel of it and how it spreads everywhere! The plastic neon cutters never cut it properly and miniscule pieces of dough are left in the nooks and crannies! If you don’t find them (which you won’t) they set like hard granite! What does Miss B like to do? MIX THE COLOURS! Just stop! Again, just use the brown dough and be done with it! We seem to have loads of play-doh here. Make your own ice cream sundae dough, farm animal dough, Princess dough! It’s all the same! It’s just cut into different shapes! What happens next? It gets trodden into the carpet! Deep penetration play-doh! How I love being on my hands and knees with a table knife scraping out the dried neon pink dough! Miss B will make some sort of ‘creation’ and then be heartbroken when it has to be parted to go back into the tubs so it won’t dry out!
Thirdly – glue! Where do I start? Usually cutting accompanies glue in our house. We have a selection of magazines to cut up, old books to tear and shiny paper in an array of colours. Does Miss B cut out large interesting shapes? Nope! She cuts teeny tiny shards of paper just visible to the naked eye! The glue is spread (thickly) over the paper (and table obviously). Random shapes are placed on and overhanging the edge of the paper (this kills me), and then I’m supposed to put it on the fridge (after it has taken a week to dry)! If I dare to utter the words “What is it?” I get a demonic look from Miss B who can’t believe I can’t make out her masterpiece! We attempted papier mache at Easter. It was for an animal project for Miss B! It was awful! Messy, dirty and it spread everywhere! It got the better of me and I had to pass the task onto hubs! The trouble with doing that is hubs is a bit of a perfectionist and it was a bit too good for a 5 year old!
So there you have it, my top 3 craft foibles!
How do you feel about craft with children? Love it or hate it?
Thanks for reading!
Love
Mrs Bash
Mrs Bash says... 