Camp Crafts, Not Just for Summer
God’s Eyes
With just a few skeins of yarn and a couple dowel rods (or even sticks from your yard), you can make dozens of these beauties. The technique is simple, here’s one of our favorite DIY’s from the ladies at Pretty Prudent. We love this craft because it’s fairly easy to master, but the design options are limitless. It’s a great way to get your kids playing with color combinations. And, when you’re done, you can hang a cluster of them together to add a pop of color to your space.
Yarn Bombing
If you’re feeling adventurous, let your kids “yarn bomb” something in your house. A support pole in your basement would be ideal. Or, consider the railing on your stairs or even a chair or table leg. There’s two ways to do this, you can stitch together patches and strips of knit or crocheted fabric. (You can make the patches, or buy old blankets at goodwill to repurpose). Or, you can simply wrap the yarn around the item. What a fun way to add some color into a rainy day.
Pompom Pine Cones
All these require are pine cones, a bag of mini colorful pompoms you can buy at any craft store and glue. (You can use a hot glue gun or craft glue.) Simply glue pompoms at random to the pine cones. They nestle perfectly on the little scales. These make a great addition to a Thanksgiving centerpiece or use them as place cards. They’d also look great on a mantle all decked out for the holiday, or tied onto Christmas packages. For that matter, they’d even make lovely homemade ornaments for all the grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbors, just tie on a length of yarn to hang them.
Hula Hoop Weavings
We love the playful large scale of these hula-hoop weavings. There’s a great step-by-step tutorial at Flax & Twine. If you’re not up for a hula-hoop sized weaving, you can also use embroidery hoops of all sizes. It’s a great camp craft that will get kids working with their hands, and exploring color and pattern. You can even create these using strips of old t-shirts and make a rug or potholder out of the weavings. They’d make awesome teacher gifts!
Hand-Painted Sticks & Rocks
Last, but definitely not least, is hand painting rocks and sticks. We love this camp craft because it’s truly perfect for all ages. All you need are paints, brushes and plenty of rocks and sticks. We’d suggest making this a two-part project, starting with a little backyard exploration to gather rocks and sticks to paint. But, if the weather isn’t accommodating, or you live in the city, there are also tons of sources on Etsy to order drift wood and river rocks, so you always have some at hand.
Encourage kids to explore all sorts of ideas from patterns and letters to paint swirls and motifs, the options are endless. Consider turning this into a collection, your kids can bring home a rock from family vacations or adventures, paint them and display them all in their room. A fun an inexpensive memento.
So, as thoughts turn away from summer, don’t forget about all the fabulous camp inspired crafts of the season. You might just need them in your back pocket for that first snow day!
Photos provided by: THUSS + FARRELL