Playdate Craft Ideas

[Melaniee]

Generally we've always hosted playdates in more of a free-form style, but the parents were always here. And they helped to clean up the hurricane of toys afterwards.

Now we've ventured into the realm of drop-off playdates.

It seems to go well.

Except for that hurricane of toys left behind that we somehow don't get cleaned up for days.

So I'm thinking what about a craft? Generally we do snacks/lunches if I add a craft into that there won't really be time for the total tossing of Dc's room.  I often suggest a game but they would rather go and play.  However I did hear the other child comment once that they like to do crafts.

Any suggestions for something to do, especially that you may find on-hand in most Waldorf-friendly homes?  I do have a boatload of crafting items...

I won't do painting. Sorry. Even my own kids hardly get to do that at home.

~Thank you~

ETA: Kindergarten-aged craft ideas are what I am looking for.

[LuxPerpetua]

We've made homemade playdough and then let them play with that.  I let them mix all the ingredients and dye it and such and then I cooked it (takes 3 mins).  Pull out pipe cleaners and let them make sculptures.  Popsicle sticks puppets (you can have them draw on construction paper and them cut them out and glue to the sticks for acting out a puppet show).  What about baking some rolls or something together?

[nanette0269]

not necessarily waldorf, but definitely excellent for developing hand dexterity....perler beads

also, check out childmade.com ....they filter and present the best of the craft blogs, and i would think that there is something that would be very child-capable, like these...

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2010/11/diy-faux-curled-rosewood-wreath-made.html?showComment=1289832814292_AIe9_BEQ624VFgvirRM51Q_FbHjlGYbR7I8z-bxlJJDrwtPuWvL1MFuQrFEx0fyvHj9tpAySJX1WDmKkMD6GbXNUadquY

 

http://thevirginiahouse.blogspot.com/2010/09/we-can-do-it-cheaper-coffee-filter.html

 

http://thepaintedhive.blogspot.com/2010/08/starburst-twig-wreath.html

[Melaniee]

These are fun ideas!  Thank you.

Anything with a glue-gun is out for crafting with them, but those are some neat ideas for me. :)  I LOVE the wreath made from books.

I also found this one on one of the blogs which I think would be neat for them, as a Christmas tree:

http://momslifevents.blogspot.com/2010/09/halloween-tree.html

[WednesdayO]

There are tons of trees made out of paper if you Google it, especially origami type stuff. I like those because there isn't any styrofoam etc involved.

Making pom-poms seem to be pretty popular.

Wet felting small balls or around bars of soap or rocks. Really small ones could be made into a necklace.

Basic sewing is great for fine motor skills. You could make tiny pillows like for the tooth fairy or sachets.

Finger knit and finger weaving are also good. There are many different styles.

[Kristin0105]

This can be a little messy but if you spread a washable cloth or newspaper clean up is pretty easy. we took bits of tissue paper saved from gifts tore them into small pieces and using a paint brush and washable glue (the clear stuff marked school glue) pasted the tissue to recycled bottles. It looks very pretty and if the bottle opening is large enough you can put a tea light in and you have a cute little lantern. Also with recycled jars you can glue a figurine to the inside lid of the jar,  fill the jar with some water, add some sparkly glitter and once the figurine has dried to the lid you can screw the lid on and you have made a water globe. Very cute but does not take up a lot of time. 

My 5 year old often just takes things out of the recycling bin, pulls out the glue, crayons, paints, feathers, leaves, acorn tops, sticks (you name it she has collected it) or what have you and she creates things. Totally free form creativity. She loves this and often turns to this when she is feeling like crafting. I did notice that when a neighbor friend was over she needed more direction as she was not sure what to do with all the treasures. We made twig furniture for her dolls but did find the glue gun made for the easiest way to attach the twigs together. Older kids may be able to secure the twigs with thread or twine.