Crafting with children

Well, this blog has not started too well! In my defense however, I have moved country so things have been a little bit all over the place. I still do not have pictures of my recent creations but wanted to post a short piece about crafting with children.
While I do not have any of my own, I have been lucky enough to spend some time with my young cousins (girls, 2 and 8). One day I was wearing a lovely necklace that I had picked up in Uganda, made with rolled paper beads, that the local women had been taught to make so that they could earn an income. My cousins loved it and were intrigued when I told them it was made with paper, so we sat down with an old magazine, scissors and glue and made two cute bracelets. It was so much fun teaching this old technique, one that I used as a child, to two wee people who had never seen it done before. And it was so easy, you cut out long, thin strips of paper, glue one side, and roll up, starting from the fat end. And while the 2 year old is not quite old enough to make her own she was happy sitting on my knee and 'helping'. Plus the 8 year old did it all herself so can really call her bracelet hers.
But then, if that wasn't enough crafting, the 8 year old asked me if I knew how to knit, as she wanted to learn! How exciting that such a young person wants to be able to create. Sadly, I do not knit but I have been teaching myself to crochet, so we sat down and together made a cute pink flower. She enjoyed it so much she also sat down and made a little bracelet for her little sister. We then played a game, where we had to list (from a group of objects) what our favorite, second favorite etc were. So, we both put the flower and the bracelet as our two favorite things. I was so happy to be teaching a little person the value of crafting, and the sense of accomplishment you get making your own things. The next day she even took her little flower to show and tell at school, maybe even inspiring more kids??