This is a guest blog post written by Jaime-Ann Laidlaw of Crafts for Kidlets.

Edward, Bella, Jacob.  Justin, Hannah, Taylor.  These names are commonly heard being talked about, swooned over, and debated on a daily basis throughout the halls of many junior high’s.  Many tweens can’t wait for the next edition of their favorite teen idol magazine.

I remember, many moons ago, having my bedroom wall lined with magazine pages of everything NKOTB and 90210. I loved sitting in my shrine to all things Donny Wahlberg and Christian Slater, until my father demanded I removed them – he felt the need to paint.  How dare he!

It was with that I discovered scrapbooking.  It started with my mom showing me a copy of a rather yellow looking book containing newspaper clippings of people I have never heard of.  But I ended up spring boarding off of her idea and created a massive scrapbook with all of the posters from my bedroom wall.

Scrapbooking does not have to be expensive; there is no need to have the fanciest book or sparkliest stickers or most colorful paper in it.  Scissors, glue, and a blank pages book work fine.  Heck – recycling an old notebook and covering the pages with teen idols is a fun thing too!

There are a lot of classes that you can introduce your son or daughter to that can help evolve their creativity to something more than video games and Perez Hilton.  Local arts and craft stores have a multitude of low cost classes they can sign up for.  Maybe there is even a chance for mother-daughter or mother-son bonding here: maybe!

Here are a few ideas to think about when trying to come up with ideas for those particular tweens!

  1. “A day in the life of…” pass them the camera and have them try out their skills by way of a photojournalism project.  The sky is the limit.  They can follow the dog around all day taking pictures of them and then putting together a creative photo journal complete with original photographs and comments all from their point of view.  This is a perfect way to get them to open up and express themselves while perfecting their writing skills.
  2. Mini Scrapbook Albums – Create albums with a specific theme. Themes are great for mini-albums because they only have a few pages for your photo story. Making a mini scrapbook to highlight the different happenings of the season or school year is always something fun your tween can look back on years from now and smile at.
  3. Easy Tie Dye Projects – something your tween can do with a couple of friends.  We all know about the basic shirt tie dying, but what about bedsheets?  Or towels? Or sun dresses?  Here’s some quick instructions from a favorite of mine: KinderArt.com (just don’t tell your tween the name of the site and everything will be OK.

What You Need:

  • various colors of fabric dye (available in the housewares department)
  • rubber bands
  • rubber gloves
  • marbles
  • tap water
  • garments such as t-shirts, cotton shorts, old jeans, etc.

What You Do:

Begin by rubberbanding your garment according to the design you wish to achieve. See the pictures below followed by the method in which to reach that result.
rubberbanding garments

Prepare dye according to package directions. Be sure to wear rubber gloves to protect your hands! Dye can be just as damaging as bleach to your unprotected skin. Please take the proper safety precautions recommended.

Once your garment is ready, place in the dye for at least 15-20 minutes. The longer the garment remains in the dye, the darker and deeper the color will become. Remove from the dye and rinse according to package directions, usually in cold running water. Ring out garment until water runs clear.

Carefully remove rubber bands and marbles to reveal your new design! No design will be the same as another and different effects can be reached by combining the different methods mentioned above.

What sort of things does your tween like to do when it comes to expressing their creative side?

Look for more fun kid crafts ideas at Crafts for Kidlets!

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