Parenting // 5 Free Ways to get Creative with Kids

Today I have an awesome guest post from Claire of The Frugal Family

Claire is a mum to four kids under 9, as well as a very naughty dog. She has over 15 years experience as a lecturer in mental health and wellbeing and now works from a shed in the garden. The Frugal Family is a resource of support and kindness from a real person to help with ethical living, budgeting and family life. 

She is going to talk to you all about budget friendly creative things you can do with kids, which is great timing as it is half term here in Wales. So over to Claire…

We have four young children (8,7,4,2) as a frugal and ethical family we try not to waste resources or spend more than we have on creative projects. It is surprisingly easy to keep kids’ creative juices flowing for free – really! 

Crafting together can be a fun and healthy way to connect with kids, you can ask them questions and talk about what they are doing, and remember to join in but not dictate! If they have favourite characters try to include them in some way until their own creativity shines through. 

You do have to be fairly happy with mess to craft with kids, especially at home. If you find the idea stressful use something like a tray to contain it a bit or work outside as much as possible… Here are FIVE ideas you can do at home, with what you already have: 

• Pick a colour and have that as your colour for the day, wear those colours, have a scavenger hunt around the house to spot that colour, look at books and shout ‘found it’ when you see that colour, on a rainy day look out the window and count the cars in that colour, or if it’s dry go for a walk… if you have nail polish or lipstick that colour you could have a makeover… dressing up costumes, you may even be able to eat that colour???  You could cut up some old magazines and just use that colour to make another picture – anything goes!
• Creativity isn’t just ‘art’, remember music, dance, drama, gardening are all creative outlets and you should try to explore them all at some point to give kids the opportunity to experience as much as possible. Listen to different music to normal, have a disco, teach them the dance from Dirty Dancing or remember some ballet moves from your youth… If you have any toy (or real) instruments then gather them together into a music box and encourage them to be used – if you have a game like SingStar for older children encourage singing. You could play a game to hum well know TV show themes and try to guess them. 
• Use Nature. Plant a seed. You may have some seeds, or can get cress seeds very cheaply to use, but you will probably have free seeds from an apple, pear, avocado or melon – use an empty yogurt pot and plant it and see what  happens!  Beans work well as they are quite quick, you can grow them in a jam jar and see the roots as well as the shoots. You can also make a leaf crown, just cut a strip of card from your recycling a cereal box is perfect – it needs to go around your child’s head, go outside and find leaves, flowers etc and stick them onto the ‘crown’. You could also find a stick to use as a wand, and even decorate that too???
• Have a box day – we talk about this a lot on the website – just use what you have in the recycling box and let the kids create people, houses, cars, rockets whatever. Try to support them with their ideas – even if they are a bit outlandish! We often make beds for toys and use some kitchen roll as a blanket which they can draw on too. They also love making box shoes for some reason… 
• Lava Lap – this requires creative thinking so is great for problem solving skills and team work. You clear away any breakables and say the floor is lava – so kids need to move around whatever space you allow, but not touch the floor. You could have some paper to make step stones, dining chairs or just let them figure it out. My kids took their clothes off to make a bridge to the sofa… any excuse! You can time a ‘lap’ as a competition or give extra challenges, you could even hide a few snacks or other ‘treasure’ somewhere to be found. 

Children’s brains are growing at an incredible rate, and helping them to develop these skills is a really important part of their development. It will mean a bit of prep and some tidying up by you, but the benefits are so important – it really is worth the effort. Your kids will also think you are super cool which also boosts morale. 

We have a new Facebook group called Free & Frugal Fun for Kids if you need any more freebies and ideas!

So guys don’t forget to go check out Claire’s blog or find her social links below

www.instagram.com/frugalfamilyuk

www.facebook.com/thefrugalfamily

www.pinterest.com/frugalfamilyuk

www.twitter.com/thefrugalfamily

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