Crafts for Lazy Parents: Wood "Crafts"

Generally, I'm not a huge fan of craft kits. I think kids are more creative when left to their own devices, with a caddy full of glue, paper, markers and scissors. However, my kids think craft kits are cool. I don't know why, but I blame all the times Hot Guy has taken them to the craft store. 

It is also his fault they find fart jokes so amusing. 

Anyway, when he first started bring the wood craft kits home, I was annoyed. More mess! More clean up! Putting little tiny pieces together! It was like a nightmare. 

But he did most of it with the kids - well, putting the tiny pieces together and supervising the painting, anyway. Now that Ironflower and Lovebug are into elementary school, they don't even need help anymore. The best part is, Hot Guy found the kits in the back of Michael's for like a dollar. Now it's a ritual for each kid to get a kit when he takes them to Michael's. 

ex

A kit car. I recommend skipping the paint included with the kit and just using your own. 

But somehow, when I took them to Michael's, they didn't like all the dollar put together and paint kits. They wanted the scary, complicated kits that expect people to use hot glue guns talent. I broke out into hives, until I distracted them with the the wooden kits that came with their own markers.

Don't ask me why coloring wood with markers is more exciting than using coloring books, but it is. 

It keeps them busy longer, too. 

Now, I don't have pictures of them, unfortunately, but you don't have to buy a kit to entertain your kiddos this way. If your garage is filled with wood scraps, like my father-in-law's workshop is, your kiddos can use them to create their own wooden crafts. You can have them use wood glue to glue pieces together (if they're over 7 or so), or just let them paint some scraps. The big kids did something like that years ago when they visited their grandparents, if I recall correctly.