Encouraging children to create gifts for people they care about teaches them how to express their feelings for those who are important to them. Making these colourful friendship bracelets is a creative way to do just that! Your children will use their imagination to explore patterns, shapes and colours. They'll also practice fine motor skills and strengthen hand-eye coordination. As you do this craft with your children, encourage then to talk about why certain people are important to her, the characteristics of a good friend and the ways of making and keeping friends.
What you'll need:
• 12-inch pipe cleaners
• An assortment of beads
• Containers to hold the beads (e.g. egg cartons or small bowls)
How to do this craft
• Create a loop at the end of the pipe cleaner to prevent beads from falling off
• Add beads to the pipe cleaner
• When the pipe cleaner is full, tie the ends together to secure the beads
Related activity
• Look at pictures of your child spending time with a friend or relative and ask her open-ended questions like, "What did you enjoy most about this day?" This will help your child talk about his or her relationships with others.
3. Send a homemade greeting card
This is an activity that will encourage your children to use words and art materials to express their feelings for someone else. But before you begin, explain to your child that on different occasions, people give each other greeting cards with messages like 'Happy Holidays'. Show your children some samples and read the messages.
By creating their own greeting cards and writing messages with your help, you will teach your children to think about the feelings of others. Drawing pictures and cutting and pasting collage materials enables children to communicate their ideas in creative ways. When you write down the words your child dictates to you, your child will learn to make connections between the spoken and written word.
What you'll need
• Construction paper
• Stickers
• Collage materials (e.g., cotton balls, scraps of tissue, old magazines)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Markers or crayons
How to do this activity
• Fold the construction paper in half
• Help your child add a special message (write the words he or she dictates and read them back to be sure the message is correct)
• Decorate the card
• Put the card in the mail
Related Activity:
• Supply dress-up props so your child can role-play being a mail carrier delivering mail and messages to friends and relatives.
This content was created by the child development and parenting experts who
developed www.parents2parents.ca. Visit the site to learn more about the ages and stages your young child is experiencing and to share in the parenting journey of other parents just like you.
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