This week marks the start of children’s mental health week, so I’ve been thinking about mindful crafts for kids. Children’s mental health is a topic of huge concern for parents with children who have been isolated during the pandemic lockdowns, and so I wanted to find a mindfulness activity which reminded the kids that even in the face of everything that’s going on in the world, we’ve managed to make some happy memories and that they are very loved.
We’ve been using our printer a lot with home schooling, but I decided we should have some fun with it by going through my photos for 2020 and printing their choice of photos from 2020 that made us feel happy and talked about why they had been happy memories. Then we chose some bright backing cardboard, cut the photos out and the kids went wild with washi tape, sequins and glue. All of our sequins are jumbled up in a big cardboard box and sifting through them is basically a sensory activity in itself.
This is a great mindfulness activity to do with kids of mixed ages, because it can take as little (perfect for toddlers with short attention spans) or as much time as they want. They are free to choose whatever memory and designs are meaningful to them so they get a sense of ownership and their self as they work on it. It also has the bonus of being free to low cost, because if you have a printer or photos printed already, you can easily do it with things you already have in the house. And now we’ve made our happy memory photo frames, we have used them to brighten up the plain wardrobe in the children’s room which makes the room feel a little brighter and more cheery. Our gallery wall is still a work in progress, but the kids are really excited about their decorating project and keep suggesting memories that we could print photos of to add.
Do you have any tips for crafts which help boost children’s self-esteem and mindfulness
Tinkers and Twine 