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Staff Pick
A praise-worthy projects book for young kids, where basic toy-making (from wooden robots to mini-kites), learning fiber arts, and plenty more is all nicely laid out in clear, understandable steps alongside great photos. The author’s experience running maker workshops additionally shines through in the bonus materials, which include inventor challenges, guiding questions, and ways to adapt the tools and customize creations according to a child’s development and abilities. Recommended By Aubrey W., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Classic and innovative hands-on projects for kids ages 3 and up designed to teach both heritage skills and how to think creatively.
Handcraft is part of human nature: we build, we create, we innovate. The 20+ projects in this book from an experienced art educator weave a story of human innovation and creativity, from the very beginnings of building shelters in the woods to tinkering with recycled materials. Heritage skills teach children how to be independent and capable makers; fiber and wood projects offer rewarding crafts that also teach planning, preparation, and safe risk taking; and tinkering activities connect the low-tech process of making and doing with innovation. From soap carving and knot tying to building toy cars and junk robots, this book brings the fun of making things with your hands to young kids and links skills of the past with the present.
The book also explores how to set up a maker space and teaches foundational workshop practices that can easily be applied to the home studio. Each project offers extensions for different ages and abilities and provides guiding questions to enrich the experience for both the maker (teacher/parent) and the apprentice (child) to encourage and celebrate creative, practical play.
About the Author
Delanie Holton-Fessler is a teacher, maker, mom of two boys, and the founder of The Craftsman & Apprentice, a heritage craft-inspired workshop in Denver, Colorado. She grew up playing in the woods and making messes, lots of art, and her own clothes. She became an elementary school art teacher in 2004 and received a master's in education in 2009. In 2011, she completed 100 paintings in 100 days, and her accompanying blog, Drawing a Blank, helped her lay the philosophical framework for living a creative life with kids. She has also worked as a project-based learning specialist and as a professional artist.
She opened The Craftsman & Apprentice in 2014 with a simple mission: to make things with people. The C&A community now hosts over 500 workshops each year and serves over 300 campers each summer. Delanie has worked with schools, museums, and businesses to provide community-based maker experiences, and she's lectured on workspace aesthetics and the power of creative play and handcraft tradition.