Most children love crafts. Often viewed as tedious and messy, crafting is actually something parents can easily do with their children. It's therapeutic and even gives you time to bond with your child.
Take quilling, for instance. This is something you can do using just coloured paper, a toothpick, glue and a paper shredder (or a blade if you want to shred the paper manually).
Quilling
Quilling artist/ paper crafter Wan Najmiyyah Wan Md Adnan says it is that simple.
The English lecturer at HELP International College of Technology started quilling as a hobby about four years ago. As she learnt more about it and blogged about it at miyyahatkertas.blogspot.com, her passion for the craft grew.
It was something she learnt on her own by doing research online.
“I was brought up around art because my father was an art teacher. He introduced the whole family to art from the time we were small. While I was at school I became interested in paper crafts.
“I started making cards after the SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysian) exam as I had a lot of free time while waiting for my results. I used to make and give the cards to my friends. They loved it and asked me to do more,” says Miyyah, as she is fondly called by friends.
She also sometimes takes orders online now.
Miyyah has taught her nephews and nieces to quill. She admits that they love it and have no problem producing quilling cards.
“There are quilling kits but these are expensive. Quilling is very simple. Instead of getting the kit, you can get a paper shredder and use a toothpick to roll the strips of paper.
“Instead of buying quilling tools, just use a toothpick and you will get the same quality. I always encourage my blog readers to quill at minimised costs.
“You can even just use your hands. For children I always ask them to do quilling by hand instead of using any tools, but this is with thicker strips of paper so it's easy for them to roll,” she adds.
For preschoolers, Miyyah suggests having pre-rolled paper quills so that the children can just arrange and stick them to a piece of paper or card.
Felt crafts
Norliza Samingon or Norlie says felt crafts is not just for those who can sew well. Even children can do it.
According to Norlie, the stitching with felt can be done using simple stitches or even using the blanket stitch which is easy to learn.
This arty yet technical mother (she works in in IT support at a company in Cyberjaya) says she comes from a family of tailors. Her mother, sister and mother-in-law are tailors. However, Norlie admits she doesn't know how to sew a baju kurung or any other clothes.
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