Doing educational crafts with your students can be a polarizing topic. Some teachers love it while others think it’s a major waste of time, especially as students get older. I’m going to give you some reasons why you should ABSOLUTELY consider making time for crafts in your classroom.
1. Student Engagement is High with Educational Crafts
I don’t think I’ve met a child yet that didn’t like doing educational crafts. Even students who struggle with fine motor skills enjoy taking a break from the monotony of the day to do a little art project! Most children I’ve met LOVE doing crafts in the classroom.
2. Fine Motor Practice
Speaking of fine motor skills, many students still struggle with them beyond kindergarten. Those skills need time to be practiced. The cutting and pasting involved in completing educational crafts is an excellent way to give your students opportunities to practice.
3. Following Directions/Listening Comprehension Practice
For the craft to come out correctly, students must follow directions- whether they are following along with you or are consulting a sheet of instructions. This is another skill that we don’t often intentionally practice with students and using classroom crafts is a fun way to do so.
4. Kids Improve Spatial Awareness when Making Educational Crafts
Yet ANOTHER skill that gets neglected as children get older is spatial ability. Some students struggle with this (it always comes out when we hit the geometry lessons towards the end of the school year). Crafts are a great way for kids to practice as they need to tap into spatial awareness skills like understanding how the pieces are arranged in relation to one another as they put them together to match a model.
5. Classroom Environment
Classroom crafts are an easy and inexpensive way to brighten up a space. They look AMAZING displayed around your classroom or in the hallway and they don’t need to be displayed in isolation. Instead of buying random bulletin board elements to accent your students’ work have them make a simple craft! (If they are writing about spring, have them make a bunny or flower craft to go with it). Plus, students love having their work displayed.
6. Student Motivation
Like I mentioned before, most kids I’ve met are always pumped to do crafts. It’s a great way to motivate children to listen and work hard. “Let’s finish up our spring writing assignments so we can start the awesome craft I have prepped for you all!” I’ve seen miraculous things happen when a craft is involved. You can use this as an incentive!
7. Educational Crafts CAN Be Done Quickly
Educational crafts don’t have to take a ton of time. The more you do them, the easier it will get. Find or create simple crafts, like my simple apple tree craftivity. If you don’t want to dedicate a whole group lesson to it- add it to a center instead with some visual directions! (You might want to model it first a few times and once your kids get the hang of it and throw everything into a center).
8. Parents Love Educational Crafts
Let’s be real… parents most likely aren’t saving the math test you gave last Thursday. (Well, most aren’t). But classroom crafts are the type of thing they WILL save. They WILL display it on their fridge. It’s sweet. They love it.
9. Educational Crafts are a Great Way to Give Kids a Much Needed Break
Our kids are exhausted! The demands placed on them these days are overwhelming. Making educational crafts is a fun way for them to take a little break from the rigor and high expectations.
Make Time for Educational Crafts in Your Classroom
Crafts can be a quick way to engage and motivate students, while providing a break from academic rigor and practicing skills related to spatial awareness, following directions, and fine motor. Parents love it and you’ll also have a student-centered way to brighten your classroom.
Grab my FREE Educational Craft
This Apple Tree Craftivity is a fun and SIMPLE way to engage your students. It’s perfect for the fall or beginning of the school year and can be used in many different ways.
You can use it as an All About Me activity and have students write words and numbers on each apple to tell about themselves (age, number of siblings, favorite color, favorite subject, etc).
You can also use it as a phonics activity for different letters and sounds or word families. Simply have students choose a letter/sound or word family to write on the trunk. (Alternatively, you can assign them). Then have them write words that match on each apple.
Another option is a math activity where students can write a number on the trunk and write a different way to show each number on each apple. (Number word, quick picture, tallies, ten frame, etc).
Click the image below to grab my apple tree craftivity for free!
Classroom crafts don’t need to be elaborate and take an eternity! Look for simple ways to integrate them into your instruction. Check out more of my craftivities by clicking here.
