When the stress of home schooling starts to heighten, crack out the craft – easy, fun projects are great for encouraging kids to be creative, and can be relaxing too.
Get involved if you can, as focusing on just one thing can be wonderfully mindful, while your children will love spending quality time together.
Need some ideas?
Try some of these crafty creations for yourself…
1. A rocket made from recycling
Let little ones raid the paper and plastic recycling and build rockets which can be painted in brilliant colours.
You can even make one into a rucksack by adding string or ribbon for straps.
2. Create crafty cookies
Bake biscuits and let the kids go to town on the decoration.
Use sweets, chocolate, mini marshmallows, icing, sprinkles and popcorn, or buy a Children’s Monster Bake And Craft Kit, £23, from notonthehighstreet.
Remember to check out the Kids’ Kitchen section in The Menu each Saturday for recipes youngsters will enjoy making at home.
3. Decorated stones
Painted pebbles are a must – they’re super easy and gorgeously pretty.
Get the kids in the garden, or searching for stones on your daily walk.
From ladybird pet rocks to crazy aliens, there are endless designs to be created. You can paint NHS rainbows and hide them in the woods for other children to find and re-hide, or get really arty by painting on beautifully intricate patterns.
4. Make a scrapbook
Now is the perfect time to start scrapbooking.
Buy a book and let the kids stick stuff on the pages, write about their day, draw pictures and create collages.
It will be a work of art and a memory to look back on once life returns to normal.
5. Immerse yourself in nature
Experiment with items found in your very own garden.
Create a leaf rubbing, pine cone spider or a twiggy wind chime.
Or collect up leaves, stones, sticks, flowers and grass, and create a nature picture or art installation (look up work by Andy Goldsworthy for inspiration).