As a mother of three active kids, I learned the value of doing art and crafts projects with my children when my oldest was still a toddler. You're probably aware of the many ways that doing kid crafts positively affects children...

• Builds positive self image
  
• Encourages self-discipline
  
• Rewards hard work and diligence
  
• Promotes eye-hand coordination
  
• Cultivates a love of learning
  
• Fosters cooperation with others
  
• Encourages their imagination

... Just to name a few. That's all well and good for kids. As parents, we want the best for our children and will do whatever it takes to give them the best life we can, but do we have to do kid crafts?!?

Okay, that's what I used to think. Doing kid crafts, especially toddlers and preschoolers seemed like such a pain in the neck. I used to think that it was too messy, hard to organize, and really not worth the effort until they got a little older.

Then I tried it a couple of times and found out that doing these types of activities really made my job as a parent soooo much easier!

Once I found age-appropriate projects that would work with all three of my children and got myself organized, the parental benefits started rolling in...

• The kids argued less among themselves and with me
• Discipline became easier and less necessary
• They played together better, even developed their own little games
• I didn't have to constantly entertain them anymore
• My oldest started helping me more with the younger ones and even wanted to help in the housework
• They all became easier to handle when we went out

You get the picture. The point is that kid crafts really made a big difference in our daily lives! Now we do a project of some kind nearly every day and everyone is happier!

The only problem that I've run across since we started with our daily kid craft time is coming up with new ideas every day.

First, I wanted to share some of the little tricks I've learned in raising my own children and how art and crafts have helped me be a better parent. Second, I wanted to share some of the resources that I've found online that have really helped me. Third, I love working on websites and wanted to start a website of my own as a hobby (That's what I did before raising children consumed my life.).

I sincerely hope that you find this site useful, thought-provoking, and inspiring. If you know of a good source that I have missed or you have a great craft or printable idea that you would like to see, please drop me an email and let me know!

Oh... don't forget to subscribe to Kid Crafts Magazine too!

Happy Crafting,

Chris Yates