Handicrafts of the World: A Year Long Study in Culture and Crafts

My daughter is a crafter. Her love language is glitter, beads, embroidery floss, and glue. She has plenty of time to craft in her own creative way but we also take time each week to focus on handicrafts.

“The points to be born in mind in children’s handicrafts are: (a) that they should not be employed in the making futilities such as pea and stick work, paper mats, and the like; (b) that they should be taught slowly and carefully what they are to do; (c) that slipshod work should not be allowed; (d) and that, therefore, the children’s work should be kept well within their compass.”

-Charlotte Mason, Volume 1

Handicrafts are made to be beautiful and useful. While there is a time and place for glitter and glue, handicrafts allow a child to develop multiple skills that will develop with them into adulthood. Handicrafts build upon one another, provide an outlet to learn new hobbies.

Keeping these principles in mind, we have developed a year-long program for students ages 8 and up. There are 18 crafts that can help connect your child to the material they are learning. Inspired by a love of people all over the world, we have written a background history of the projects to help learn from other cultures. All of these crafts take inspiration from others and have been adapted to a handicraft format with the utmost respect to the culture and people from whom they were inspired.

The crafts included are

Iris folding
Origami
Paper Picado
Paper Flowers
Paper beads
Decopauge

Sewing:
Simple Sampler
Kasuti
Sashiko
Celtic Heart
Black Work
4 Patch Quilt

Textile Dyeing:
Block Printing
Batik
Bandanai
Tie-Dye
Shabori
Bògòlanfini: Mali

This unit is best suited for ages 8 and up. You can find the unit on our shop page.