Looking for Something Fun to do with your foster kids at Christmas? Try Crafting! You will be impressed how much fun you will have!
There are so many kids in need of a loving home, both temporary as well as a forever home, that there is a real need for people like yourselves who are there to give them the love and support they need. Sadly, the holidays can be a real challenge for some foster kids who miss their birth parents terribly. That is understandable and something that even time may not completely heal. However, what you can do is provide them with a positive outlet for those emotions they are experiencing, and there is no better outlet than crafting. Shall we explore that a bit?
Crafting Groups Often Work Well
Before looking at some of the crafts you might like to try with your kids, let’s look for a moment on just how effective crafting groups can be for their emotional wellbeing. Since it’s Christmas break, you’ve plenty of time to find crafting groups of kids who will learn a craft together with kids their own age. Not only is crafting fun but it gives them that extra level of socialising with other foster kids who have many of the same backgrounds and emotions to share. You might call it a bi-level healing activity.
Let’s look at fostering in Northern Ireland, for example. Foster parents there are passionate about providing a loving home for their kids and will go the extra mile to help them discover things that interest them. When working with a private agency like thefca.co.uk, various activities are planned throughout the year. At Christmas there are parties for the kids as well as crafting classes where they can learn a craft and also make something to bring along home with them.
Plan Your Crafts By Age Level
While you couldn’t logically teach a 5 or 6 year old to weave a tapestry, even a simple one with minimal colours, you could teach them weaving with a simple square loom. For ages kids have been ‘weaving’ hot pads for their mums. This is something that even the youngest of school children can comfortably learn and do. Bear in mind that all crafts might not appeal to all children, but some crafts to experiment with might be:
- Art such as drawing and painting
- Sculpting and working with clay
- Woodworking (for older kids)
- Making wall hangings from jigsaw puzzles
- Gardening from seeds (indoor potted plants in winter)
- Building models – from kits and DIY pieces they cut
This is in addition to so many other crafts you can find that interest them. The whole point of crafting is perhaps based on that old proverb about busy hands. Not only do busy hands keep kids out of ‘trouble’ but busy hands also demand focus. Focused concentration can take them beyond the sadness they may be experiencing when lifted from the family they were born and raised in.
A Fun Approach to Therapy
When all is said and done, crafting can be both fun and therapeutic at the very same time. The passion you feel for fostering led you to a better understanding of just what these kids need. Yes, they need you and all that love you have to give them, but they also need to feel that their feelings are valid too. Crafting can help them explore those emotions and what better way is there to bring those emotions to a visible surface than by laying them out in a crafted project? It’s all part of the healing process and that’s something you can give them too – a chance to explore their innermost feelings through crafting.
