What Makes a Great Craft at Home for Kids?

Nancy Ellis has been with the Randall for 24 years! She has been part of countless Halloween Day, Bug Day and Winter Holiday Events, as well as the shift to online events during the COVID-19 pandemic. We asked her what makes a successful Randall Museum crafting session at home.

What makes for a great craft?

“The Randall staff creates crafts with multiple aspects, like gathering the material, working with the material, following the steps, and then embellishing it, so kids make it their own.”

What are some things NOT to do with kids and crafts?

“It completely depends on the age. For very young kids, scissors or tying knots can be a stumbling block. For parents choosing crafts to do at home, they know best what their child can do and feel successful. Right now, parents know that the challenge is having the materials at home – for example, not everybody has a lot of pipe cleaners on hand.”

What’s the first thing you tell kids when they start a craft?

“The first thing I say — and this is important — is that this is YOUR craft. You choose what you want to do, and you can figure out how to do it! If adults get anxious and want to help kids a little too much, I tell them to just grab some material yourself and make your own project, side-by-side with your kid. It’s more fun that way!”