May-craft with my son

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Making a craft with your child is a meaningful way to engage him...and much more...


It is always difficult to spend quality time with your kid. I make sure, I never miss one such possibility. I usually take up a tiny project with my son every month. I plan it so as to distribute the activity almost through each day of the month. This allotted task gives us a new topic to discuss and work on, together.

My takeaway. The happiness and enthusiasm that fills the tender one during the conversations that go along with the creation.

My son was actively involved at every step… his ardent love for this simple craft (that) filled me with a sense of accomplishment.

Our May project was to fill a glass jar (a long-forgotten gift from an old friend). How should we fill it was the main challenge the two of us faced. A two-day long rigorous discussion followed. It looked like a professional team doing a much-needed requirements analysis prior to a project. Of course, it was mellowed down to match up to my 6-year old’s understanding. I was amazed at the way he was coming up with ideas. We decided that any material could go into the jar as long as it stayed in there for another year. Paper butterflies were the best choice.

I am not fond of buying extra stuff and usually try to recycle our trash. We first needed coloured paper, which was there in abundance. Lots of preschool craft items lay unattended, which would now come to good use. We grabbed mail envelopes for our white butterflies. My son was actively involved at every step and couldn’t wait to begin it.

A collage of paper butterflies

Once we had enough paper, we cut them into squares of different dimensions. The next step was to make the butterflies. I will lead you to this YouTube video in case you too want to make beautiful butterflies. You can use them as a gorgeous wall décor too.

We made twenty such beautiful paper butterflies. This was a one-week effort. Each day my son looked forward to making two more butterflies and add to our collection bag. I was surprised to see how delicately he handled them and how patiently he even waited for the glue to dry!
A collage of paper butterflies inside the jar

Next week, all our evenings were taken up in filling the jar. We placed a few sea-shells and play-doh stones right at the bottom of it. We were trying to recreate a beach paradise. An attempt at manifesting the little one’s desires.

Though nothing seemed to be anywhere close, the very act of doing it was our joy. We then placed the butterflies on top of the base decorations and taped a few on the sides.

My son also wanted to add personalized notes to the jar. So we made tiny scrolls that had feel-good messages written inside them. We tied strings and nets around a few of them and the rest were bound by stickers. All were thoughtfully placed and the jar was now full.

Tiny personalised scrolls

The project turned out to be a riot of colours. On our final day, my son added two paper butterflies on the top of the jar. He picked them up randomly and came up with an impromptu decision. Not to put them within the jar but outside it, right at the top. He was raving, ‘Maa, they are stuck…they love the jar...they just wouldn’t leave it.’ It was his ardent love for this simple craft that filled me with a sense of accomplishment.

The last week of May. We placed the jar-turned-home-of-butterflies by our window sill. The bright sun and the clear sky complimented it. I took numerous pictures of our jar of joy to share it with our family and friends.

A jar filled with paper butterflies

It is difficult to take time off your busy schedules to spend with your kid. But even a little time, a small project with your kid spanned out over a month, will fill up a whole treasure box. An unexpected hoard for both of you to dig into later on in life. There are tons of resources on the internet and tiny helping hands at your command. Use them. Start working on one such project this month and see how meaningful it becomes for your kid.

By: Joyeeta Mukherjee and Promita Banerjee Nag

Disclaimer:
This article and the opinions expressed in it are personal opinions. It is not meant for imposing specific views or endorsing a particular way of life. Also please do ignore any errors or omissions that you might come across. We pledge to learn from them. Happy viewing.

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