Starting After School Program

We here at the Craft Kitchen are very excited to be joining the Glenview Elementary after-school enrichment program.  It certainly will make it easier for families at the school to attend our class. No commuting time involved.  Let's just hope some families are willing to enroll their children.  It will be the first time we are offering classes to older children 3rd graders to 5th graders.  I find that all very exciting to get the chance to work with older children who will have more advanced skills, and challenging.  We will try to post photos from the classes to see what creative projects the kids will be doing.  I've found it difficult to take photos during class, because we are always helping the children.  We will try our best to get some shots of the projects at least.

It's a new year and new things brewing.  I'm looking forward to this year and hoping that everyone will have a fruitful year to come! 

Holiday Craft Faire 2009

Below are all of the photos from our Holiday Craft Faire at my daughter's school. We had a nice little turnout, and seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves. It was really fun to watch the children and parents get creative. We offered nine different crafts to do: bookbinding, holiday ornaments, gift tags, fun magnets, snow dusted paper trees, sachets, pomanders, cookie decorating, and linoprint greeting cards. I'm already getting ideas for next year. We did it in combination with the school book fair which was fun. Parents and children were able to do a craft and then go buy some books for the holidays. We appreciated our fearless volunteers who helped assist at the tables, and all of the participants who graciously were patient, and came to join in on the fun.

More Holiday Craft Faire 2009

Thanksgiving Craft class fun stuff

Here are just a few pictures from the special Thanksgiving edition of Craft Kitchen. The kids did many projects such as: Leaf printed napkins, napkins rings with felt leaves, chocolate dipped marshmellows that looked like pilgrims hats, fun sock turkeys, and tri-bead Indian corn. They also got to enjoy some poems and stories about Thanksgiving, as well as, some Thanksgiving themed coloring pages. Above are shots with children doing the Indian corn, and coloring up some pilgrim fun.

Thanksgiving Craft Class projects

Here's our clan of turkeys. The kids had a great time creating these. The ones above are the creation of myself and my daughters. We were very busy helping all of the kids during our Thanksgiving craft class to take pictures on the fly.

The Indian corn was also a huge hit with the kids. They were easy and super fun to make. I couldn't help but to make more and more and more. They looked lovely around the Thanksgiving table, which my daughter assembled.

After School Fall '09 Silk screen treat bags

Photos courtesy of Megan Simmons
For Halloween we silk screened treat bags with the kids. Above are highlights of the screening process.

After School Fall '09 Linoprints

We thought it would be a interesting idea to try linoprints with young children. The kids drew their design into styrofoam, and created a framed piece of art and stationary.