Program: Homemade for the Holidays

One of my most successful programs in 2012 (aside from summer programs) was one called Homemade for the Holidays, held in December. I showed a roomful of young patrons two crafts, one intended as a gift and the other as a decoration for their homes. With the success of that program, I wanted to repeat it in December 2013, with some new crafts.

I liked the format of one craft that could be used as a gift and one as decoration, so I chose my crafts with this in mind. I had many Styrofoam balls left over from another fall program, so I decided to use these again and let the kids make ornaments. I pretty much left the decoration and style up to them, but provided them with felt, jewels, glitter, and whatever other supplies I felt like digging out of the craft closet. They got very creative with this; I was very impressed.

For our gift-type craft, we made paper bead bracelets. I printed out some templates that the kids could trace to make their paper beads in different shapes. They liked this, though they struggled a bit with getting the proper amount of glue on their beads (you really don't need a lot and they always tend to squeeze out more than necessary). I had one young man determined to create his own shape for a bead - he wanted one that was short but fat. It turned into a small science experiment as he tried different patterns to see what kind of beads he could create.

I had a much smaller turnout compared to last year, but the kids who came had a good time.