Dollar Store Crafts

Well if I keep posting articles about crafts you will inevitably notice how often I talk about the dollar store. And not the store that charges more than a dollar, but the one that actually charges $1.00 only per item. I have found this to be a very affordable place to purchase crafting supplies for my kids. Children are hard on paint brushes, paint, and most tools used for projects. You don't want to waste a lot of money on something that could potentially be ruined. Instead of getting mad at the kids if the paint colors mix you can just let them have at it and if they get ruined you're only out a dollar. Don't get me wrong I am not big on being a disposable society. I prefer not to waist or pollute. But I also don't want to freak out when the paintbrush gets ruined because it was rubbed into a frayed mess and ruin the fun my daughter was having. (By the way the paint set and brush are in a kit together so it's ultra inexpensive). Sometimes we get multiple uses out of the set and other times we don't. The point is my child gets to be creative without me reprimanding her in the process or micro-managing her every move.

One of my favorite things to get is a pack of glitter glue pens. The set includes a number of colors and has two of each shade. Glitter does not get dusted all over the house because it is contained in the gooey glue. My child is then free to glitter as she pleases and I wind up with a very minimal mess to clean up which is a good thing because I hate cleaning, but love a clean house.

Today's project was a straw beach hat. She glittered and stickered and then said she made it 'special' for me. Now I have a fun silly hat to wear in the garden. And yes, I will wear it because I don't care how crazy I look when it comes to presents from my kids.

This wonderful hat cost...yes, it's true...only $1.00!

The foam craft stickers that cost so much at other supposedly discounted stores come in a container for this wonderful price as well.

Now I may have stressed that I like to give my child a lot of freedom in her art. From the above you can see that this project was rather unstructured. This is not always the case. Learning to follow instructions and a plan is valuable too. There are many occasions where our projects are more challenging and I set out guidelines to follow. Children need time to be free and time to be challenged and instructed. A healthy age appropriate balance is what I am striving towards. At this point in the game we are at a Kindergarten level and a lot of leeway is given to encourage creativity and imagination. When it costs this little you can feel a little easier about letting the reigns go and allowing your child to create on their own. You may wind up with a lot of projects that only your child feels proud about, but that's okay. They learn each time they try and all we have to do is praise their effort, and sometimes wear a silly hat.