Today I’m sharing how to bring Christianity into your Child-Centric Craft Projects. There are many factors you might think about when deciding what kinds of crafts to do with your kids and their friends. I always like to take their ages into account, plus the supplies I already have on hand in my craft room. Then, I don’t have to worry about starting a project that’s too difficult or easy for their skillset or have to go to the craft store to stock up on stuff. There are many reasons to focus on educational and artistic crafts that will help your child and their friends learn and build upon their Christian faith while expressing their artistic talents.
It’s Easier to Narrow Down Your Options
The internet is filled with topical Bible studies that help you introduce concepts to your kids ranging from generosity to compassion. Even better, many of them include crafts that bring these principles to life. Some of them also capitalize on Christian holidays, such as Easter and Christmas. In the photo above, you’ll see a photo of my kids when they were younger with their ‘Resurrection Eggs’, which I’ll share more about below.
If you don’t have a plan before diving into craft-making efforts, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. In contrast, you can simply perform a search to find Easter Christian craft projects, for example, then pick one that’s most appropriate. One of my favorite Easter craft projects I did with the kids was when they were younger and I surprised them with ‘Resurrection Eggs’. They now sell kits with these already made up at Hobby Lobby or on Amazon, but you can also make your own! I did three posts about Resurrection Eggs HERE, HERE and HERE and my kids really enjoyed it! Basically, 12 days before Easter they start opening one egg each day and there is a little surprise in the egg and a passage to go with it leading up to Easter. It is such a great way to introduce younger kids with the story of Easter. Some of the eggs promote a craft project, such as spelling JESUS out in play dough, etc. It really is so much fun for them and educational, too!
Slime is really popular these days and you could find Christian confetti of crosses or other Christian symbols at a Christian store and add the confetti to the slime. You can find the instructions for Easter slime HERE.
Celebrate Individuality
One interesting thing about doing crafts with kids is the activity tends to make it apparent how people are all different. If you ask your son and your daughter to each draw a house, it’s very likely the results will be quite different from each other. Just as their personalities are different, so are their artistic interests!
When you emphasize individuality during crafting, it’s easy for young people to genuinely feel accepted for who they are. Similarly, you can provide encouragement for a youngster who feels he or she is not doing as well on a project as peers. My older child loves to show his younger sister tips and tricks he’s learned and I love seeing them bond during craft time.
As a starting point, make sure your kids know that God made them unique and able to express individuality. Unfortunately, today’s society often encourages conformity. When young people don’t wear the cool clothes, take part in the most interesting pastimes and listen to all popular music, they might start to feel like outcasts. However, crafts help kids remember they all have beautiful qualities and don’t have to be exactly like their friends.
Use Crafts to Show Love to Others
Even people who don’t know the Bible well usually understand that Jesus Christ did countless things to show love to others. He bravely spent time in the presence of people who were considered outcasts by wider society and their families alike. By using that character trait as a jumping-off point, you can make kids feel excited about participating in crafting as an activity that benefits others.
You might plan a project where kids make greeting cards to hospital patients or fold origami figures and give them to people staying in a domestic violence refuge. Both those gestures could cheer up the recipients and kids to feel they’re doing something that matters to people other than themselves. My son’s karate school gives out an assignment every month and every November each kid in the karate school makes a card and it is given out to the elderly who need some cheering up during the holidays.
Rely on Internet-Based Resources for Constant Inspiration
If you’ve been doing crafts for a long time, you may feel you’re going through a bit of a dry spell when deciding what to tackle next. Fortunately, when you choose Christian-based crafting, it’s not hard to locate supplementary resources that could guide your artistic efforts.
The Way International is a non-denominational Christian ministry that offers years of experience with helping followers of Christ deepen their faith. The organization provides engaging slideshows about concepts most of us face throughout our lives. They range from staying focused on God as a student to not being ashamed of what the scriptures teach us. After going through some of those resources, you’ll almost certainly come up with new craft projects to try and especially those based on what you just learned.
Connect With a Local Church
Once you get in the habit of Christian crafting, you’ll be in a fantastic position to share what you know with a church in your area. Most congregation leaders eagerly look for new ways to engage with young people and often view crafting as an opportunity for outreach.
My kids attend a school that is connected to our church. There are many activities at the church that promote crafts, such as Sunday School and my kids favorite, Vacation Bible School (VBS) during the summer. Everyday in VBS, the kids get to visit the craft station and make 1-2 crafts to bring home. These usually go with the theme of the program for that summer and follow a scripture passage.
In addition to giving a church in your area the instructions for some of the Christian crafts your children liked best, you could ask the religious establishment to give you similar resources of their own. If the church is open to receiving information about crafts you’ve done, it’s worth seeing if your kids could take on a leadership role and teach other youngsters how to make the respective items. My son is in middle school now, so next year instead of ‘attending’ VBS, he will help as one of the teen leaders. He’s excited about this and he will also earn some volunteer hours at the same time.
It’s crucial for kids to know other young people who share common faith principles. Crafting could be one of the keys to helping that happen. Also, it’s a group activity that urges kids to learn to share, exercise patience, and work towards goals together. For those reasons and others, you could discover that partnering with a nearby church to participate in crafts is one of the best things you’ve ever done for yourself or your kids.
You’ve just been introduced to some of the many reasons why it’s so beneficial to combine Christianity with crafting. It’s not difficult to do and could help you take parenting activities in a new direction. What Christian crafts do your children enjoy?
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