I have two 5.5yo boys and while we haven’t done much in the way of handicrafts/art, I’ll share what we do. Their favorite right now is beading. We have a lovely bead store locally and they sell a strand that has a flexible wire tip attached to it (so all in one and thus very easy for small hands). We had a supply of mostly seed beads but also whatever random things we’ve collected over time and the boys LOVE to simply put the beads on the strand while I’m reading aloud. They are not making anything specific right now, just a long strand, but boy are they proud of it! Eventually I’ll look into more specific projects or talking to them about design, etc, but for now they are just playing and enjoying the quietness of it all.
I have an embroidered clown I made when I was 5yo, framed. The whole design is about 12 inches high and the thread was rather fuzzy so it ‘filled in’ and stitches didn’t have to be perfect for it to look great. I remember making it! I was going to look into something like that for my boys for this winter.
And this (http://www.filthwizardry.com/2010/02/sewing-and-embroidery-for-kids-with.html) is a great handicraft idea in my opinion. We haven’t done it yet, only bc I’m lazy :), but now that I’m reminded of it, I think we’ll start this week!
For art, we are using Drawing with Children (borrowed from the library first, now we own it) with my 5yos, but also I’m doing it along with them to reteach myself. We do a lesson every couple of weeks, whenever they or I am interested, and do Art Exploration (not a lesson, just for fun) much more frequently. I highly recommend high quality water colors (liquid, not the little disks you get wet) and real watercolor paper – everything they do looks beautiful!! We get ours from Discount School Supply.
Best,
Shannon in NC
