Cool Craft Idea: Make Your Own Craft Kit “Subscription”

Craft subscription boxes are a lot of fun for kids, but they can be pretty expensive, and if you already have a lot of craft supplies at home or in your classroom, you can even make your own “subscription” kits with a monthly theme for kids.

I came across this idea at More Excellent Me, and I think it was done for a single child but you could do the same thing for a family with multiple crafty kids, or even for the classroom. Having all the supplies together in a box or a bag just makes the making more fun, right?

The blog post I found includes 12 ideas for different projects, and there’s a printable that includes all the supplies and instructions for each of the project. Her ideas included:

sock snowman
Valentine’s card
puppet
flower pot
bird feeder
bug catching jar
firecracker flag craft
paper doll and fabric
decorating a notebook
monster glove
scarecrow Popsicle stick craft
snow globe

If you’re making your own kit(s) you can use whatever supplies you have on hand, or if there’s a craft you always do in the classroom that can be divided up into supplies like this, packaging it as a surprise can make it a little more fun.

Using the seasons and holidays for each month makes this even easier because you can find tons of easy craft ideas for different holidays and themes (even right here on Craft Gossip!) that use the supplies you already have.

Say you have a lot of felt and its January. You could cut out snowman shapes or just circles and give kids buttons, felt in other shapes like noses, scarves and hats and have them decorate a snowman. Take your excess buttons into February to make button bracelets or glue or sew down buttons in a heart shape.

If you’re doing this for one person instead of a classroom, think about their age, interests and skill level as you put your craft kits together. My daughter loves beading, painting and drawing and has a sort of goblin core/grunge aesthetic so I might make her a kit to paint this wooden mushroom that’s sitting on my bookshelf, gather some beads for friendship bracelets or backpack charms, that kind of thing.

Have you ever made craft kits for yourself or a kid in your life? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: More Excellent Me]

Lacing is a great fine motor activity, and most kids go through a phase where they enjoy working with lacing cards. It helps promote focus and is a great quiet activity for kids to do in the car or to fill time in the classroom. And of course knowing how to lace is the beginning of knowing how to sew, which is great for all kids to learn (more on teaching kids to sew here).

There are lots of ways to make your own lacing cards. This one is just a pin but it’s easy to make lacing cards with any shape a child is into using cardboard and a nail to poke the holes. This could be fun for letter and number recognition or spelling the child’s name. Or try this version from Hey Azka, which uses a hole punch to make bigger holes so you can lace with shoe laces.

You can also just do lacing cards with paper, but it’s a great idea to print them on card stock and/or laminate them to make them sturdier for little hands. Homeschool Share has a set of alphabet lacing cards, which are free with email signup. Deceptively Educational has a set of number lacing cards with numbers 0 to 10.

Picklebums has some basic shape lacing cards, too.

Living Life and Learning has a bunch of cute printable lacing cards, including back to school designs, shoes kids can lace and learn to tie and ocean themed lacing cards. She also has tips for making your own lacing cards.

A Rose Tinted World made their lacing cards with craft foam, which makes them a little more durable than paper and you can cut it more easily than cardboard. They used a die cutting machine but you can also cut shapes by hand.

I also love the cat and mouse cards from Seam Whisperer. They also have some spring themed designs. So cute!

If you want to make lacing cards that are more open ended, check out this tutorial form Pretty Life Girls to make lacing cards that are more like geo boards. Theirs are made with wood but you can also do this with cardboard, craft foam or card stock.

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