ParenthoodNJ.com

Crafty Corner

Danica got creative with the clay & made some nice pieces

We found a neat idea for making clay crafts from Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts: An A to Z Guide with Instructions and Endless Inspiration. Her website (and the book) have tips on how to make striped and spiraled creations. There is another article on making clay crafts. My 3-year-old and I used the articles for inspiration and spent more than an hour playing with the clay. I tried Martha's technique for making striped hearts and my daughter enjoyed mashing different colors together to make very interesting hearts and stars using cookie cutters. We punched holes in them with a toothpick before baking and used silver and gold cords.

The only real suggestion I have is to make sure your hole is large enough for the cord to pass through. If you are using cord that can fray, try wrapping a little scotch tape around the tip and twisting it before passing it through the hole. We made enough fun necklaces to give to her cousins and a few for herself to play with. All in all, it was a very fun and inexpensive activity.