Let kids' imaginations create fun-to-do crafts

Advertiser Staff

If your keiki are looking for some new excitement this summer, the Craft and Hobby Association has suggestions.

Basic craft supplies and your child's imagination are all that's needed.

• Let kids feel like professional artists. Have them use watercolors, paints, colored markers and/or crayons to create a picture. Then buy a frame to display their work in your home.
• Have your kids start a scrapbook. Buy some blank books or photo albums and let your kids chronicle their summer adventures in their very own scrapbook. Photos, drawings, ticket stubs and postcards can all be included as a reminder of their special summer.
• Use nature to create. Have kids collect rocks, twigs, shells, feathers and whatever "treasures" they come across. Then they can use their findings as embellishments for their craft projects.
• Challenge the kids to play the Recycling Game. Use old jelly jars, paper-towel cardboard cylinders, milk cartons, CD covers and other "useless" items and then let your kid's creativity take over to transform them into something they can use.

Basic essentials for crafting: crayons, markers, glue, scissors, construction paper, craft sticks, stickers, paints, paint brushes, rubber stamps, yarn, ribbon, beads, clay and felt. Use tin foil or paper plates as a mini "palette" to hold paints, glue, and any other materials that tend to spill.

Be sure to protect children's clothing. Parents can cut an opening in a plastic garbage bag or use an old pillowcase to serve as a smock.

For more craft projects and tips, wee www.i-craft.com.