Crafts for different crowds

As much as we love educational crafts, sometimes we like doing some "just for fun."  And yes, I have picked some that are gender-geared. 

Jewelry is always popular with the girls.  Celia recently celebrated her 9th birthday with a sleepover.  (Yes, five 9-year-old girls! We must be crazy!)   For activities, she chose mani/pedis and arts and crafts.  Among the items we made were some bracelets.  I bought pearl beads and stretch cord, and each girl made a bracelet.  We used the same beads and craft glue to make matching barrettes. 

Beaded necklaces always seem popular with the Grandmothers.  (I think so far each has six or seven of them! They're good sports!)  For a Mother's Day gift, Jude made one for each of our moms, and then he made one for me and Daddy (his idea!)  They're great for practicing fine motor skills, color patterning, and even letter recognition and spelling (even if they do get strung upside down).

Boys-centered crafts are always a bit "harder" for us. Mainly because most academic crafts really are for either gender, plus Jude likes doing "girly" crafts - he'll make a necklace and give it to Mimie or Grammy.  He likes thing that involve glitter and paint - the messier, the better! Here's a cute boy craft (though it could go for a girl as well) - a superhero cape made out of a repurposed shirt.

Superhero Cape

Materials:
1 old shirt
scissors
items to decorate cape (glitter, felt, glue, etc.) if desired

Note: We used one of Luke's no-longer-needed uniform golf-style shirts. I purposely chose one with buttons to make it easier to get on and off without stretching the neck.  (Ok, plus we had a bunch of shirts with his school's name on them that had no other real use.)  You can use a T-shirt if that's what you have - it's a good way to extend the life of a shirt that has remnant stains of dinner on it.

You can do this on the table and just cut the sleeves off, too. Jude wanted to be "transformed" into a super hero. Damien just wanted a cape, so I did his without him wearing it.



Directions:

1.  Starting at the hem, cut up and over the shoulder to the other hem, removing the sleeve.

 2. Repeat to remove other sleeve.

3.  Remove the collar, leaving the seam intact.  (This will help keep your neckline sturdier.  I also insisted on taking it off him for this - the scissors were too close to a wiggly head.)  Remove the front of the shirt but cutting across the front, just below the button placket.  (If you're using a t-shirt, cut about 1" from the collar/neckline.)

4.  Try your cape on!

5.  You can take it off and decorate it if you want.  Or you can just zoom off to save the world!

It doesn't matter if you're a boy or a girl, there's a craft for everyone!


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