But...crafts are important for young children. It seems they not only give little hands something to do, but encourage skills like cutting and drawing. Two weeks ago, I took advantage of two feast days to introduce some crafts.
First, at the end of September, we had the feast day of the archangels. First Son loves the archangels, of course. What's not to love about St. Michael? (First Son learned all about him from the first half of Cat Chat's Amazing Angels and Super Saints. One of these days we're going to have to buy the whole episode.) I found this archangel pattern at Ana Braga-Henebry's Journal. It was very easy for me to print and cut out the angel pattern. The kids colored them and taped them together. I don't have a picture of the final product. They had a fine time making them, but didn't seem interested in playing with them.
For the Feast of the Guardian Angels on October 2nd, I first planned to make this mobile. I printed the large template five times (one for each member of the family). We all colored angels for other members of the family which the kids thought was a little funny. I ended up discarding the mobile idea when I couldn't find a place I'd actually like to hang it. Instead, I taped the angels up on our closet door and plan to leave them there for a while.
I like crafts more if they end up creating some decorations for us. I think it gives the children a greater purpose, too. They're not just filling time and leaving a mess; they're helping to make our home a beautiful place to live.
