Kids - DIY Preplanned Craft Kits

I have sworn off my craft room. Every bead, every feather, every stamp block with a surfing dog on it, and all 400 of those skinny markers that never work and are always dried out. You are dead to me.

But girls must craft!

The Problem:

• I never have a craft ready for the girls
• When I try to craft with them, we are always missing pieces
• My craft room was so messy I wouldn't go in for weeks unless forced to
• Crafting made me cringe because it was/is a giant problem

What I DREAM about:

• Telling the girls to go 'pick a craft' and have an instant craft already ready
• Having instructions included so that if I'm not there, Daddy knows exactly what is needed and can read the instructions for every and any craft
• If I'm not there, Daddy isn't taking stuff I need for another craft to do something with the girls

Moment of Inspiration:

$5 and Below store - They have those chintzy best friend bracelets and other strange kits all ready to go with extra pieces that give you nightmares about. And they are only about $5! Pretty sweet! I wish I could just buy 400 of these for the entire summer...*brain begins working*

The Solution:

• I want to get rid of the Crafting mess (part of decluttering)
• I want ready made craft kits with enough pieces for each girl to do one craft
• I want instructions in with each craft so Daddy can pick a craft to do with the girls too!
• PrePlanned craft boxes means Daddy won't be able to take stuff meant for other crafts - he won't need to!
• No more stressing about finding a craft idea - we already did that!
• Solution for Craft Kit Ideas - Amazon (whatever is selling) and Pinterest!

Possible Complications:

• What to organize the craft kits in? - I don't want to go and buy 100 clear organizer boxes and stack them in my closet...Answer: Cereal Boxes turned inside out
• What happens to any extra pieces? - I think we'll donate these to the teacher but over the summer they will be thrown out! Answer - Throw extra pieces out!

Random Observations - We eat a LOT of cereal in this house lately!

Now - How did we do?

I have decided to take a resource that we have a constant stream of - cereal boxes - and turn those into the Preplanned Craft Kit boxes. However - I think the outside is ugly. So I took apart the seams and turned it inside out and glued it back together with a hot glue gun. Very easy. See picture below (if I remembered to post it!)

How I am going to approach the Preplanned Craft Kits - I'm going to go into the craft room and pick something. Anything. And then look for what can be made, easily enough, with as few items as possible, with that one item. If we have everything for that craft idea then everything needed will go into the kit - enough for two, and I'll print out instructions for the kit.

*Tip* If you don't want to use cardboard boxes or cereal boxes - little zip lock baggies work just fine! (And you can see in them much easier). Entirely up to you! I am organizing my crafts by month - to be sure we're not doing Christmas crafts in July!

Now, how to label? You have to print out instructions so you might as well print out a picture of what the craft is supposed to LOOK like. Use some tape and tape it to the outside of your craft box. Kids love pictures!

How to keep up with them? Let your kids help you pick on Pinterest! Make a list of what you need for 5 or 10 projects that have very similar components (if possible) and go shopping for now many pieces you need. Just make it a craft shopping trip - we do it for groceries, don't we? Let them help choose, sort and store the kits! Which pictures go with which craft? Do you have all the pieces? Do you have a checklist? (in the instructions) Or do it when they are sleeping if the thought of sorting 10 craft kits with kids rummaging through everything you bought makes you panic - like me!

I hope that this has given you some ideas and inspiration! This idea takes a little bit of planning ahead of time but is a fantastic way to clear out your craft mess for good. Try a 'use it all up' before you buy anything for a 'new' craft project approach. Then you won't feel so bad about your new minimalist crafting approach. But be careful you don't lull back into "But we might need that some day...."!!!