The Importance of Crafting With Your Preschooler

By Joanna Young

There is perhaps no better time to involve your preschooler in crafting than the holiday season. Whether it's Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, the holiday season is abundant with ideas and inspiration. By drawing on the sights and sounds of the holiday season, your preschooler can learn to exercise his/her creativity to express the joy that comes with everyone's favorite time of year.

Holiday Crafting Builds Memories

Do you have a special handmade keepsake from your childhood? When you touch it, feel it, hold it, do the memories come rushing back to you? Perhaps you can still hear your mother's humming while you stitched together, or smell your grandpa's cologne while you painted wooden ornaments. These are moments a child never forgets. When you and your preschooler craft together, you're creating memories that will last his/her lifetime.

Holiday Crafting Brings Quality Time

Away from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, you and your preschooler can spend precious quality time together when crafting. Not only does it give you the opportunity to talk, laugh, or sing with your preschooler, it allows for teachable moments. If your child accidentally spills a blob of white paint on his/her paper, you can teach him/her how to turn mistakes into art. "Hey! That looks like a pile of snow," you can suggest. "Let's make a snowman on top of it."

Holiday Crafting Creates Pride

When your preschooler makes a holiday craft project, s/he will beam with pride when seeing you display it for all the family to see. Knowing that special item was crafted by his/her own hands builds pride in achievement and promotes a healthy self-esteem. Who hasn't admired their own artwork, thinking, "Boy, did I really make that? That looks nice!"?

Holiday Crafting is a Celebration

The holidays are about celebrating life, love, and sharing, and these elements are represented in the handmade crafts that you and your preschooler create together. Whether making a Hanukkah Macaroni Necklace or My Holiday Book, you and your preschooler will be drawn into the spirit of the holidays, creating lifelong memories and celebrating the spirit of the season.

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