subject: Craft Projects For Specialty Papers [print this page] Arts and crafts is one of the great American pastimes. It is on the few things enjoyed by both young and old, male and female, rich and poor. This enduring hobby is not only fun, it's healthy. Creative pursuits boost mental power. When done cooperatively they help build teamwork and social skills in young children. Although arts and crafts can take many forms, from quilting and needlepoint, to scrapbooking and painting, you can start a lot of projects with specialty paper.
One the most simple and fun craft projects is paper plane making. All you need is some printable paper, markers, scissors and tape. Gather your kids and their friends and have each team build and decorate a paper airplane, or if you have time a whole fleet of paper planes. Spend time decorating them and trying out a few different designs. Once the planes are built, see which one flies the best, which one is the prettiest, and which need to be redesigned. It's a lot of fun and as an added bonus you can hang the planes up with string or combine them to make a mobile.
If aerodynamics isn't your thing you could stick to something more purely decorative. Seasonal decorations can be made easily with colored papers and basic craft supplies. Easter is coming up so you can gather your kids and make some paper Easter eggs and bunnies to hang around your house. Guests love to see cute homemade decorations and kids are proud to display their artistic prowess. Passover is also coming up so maybe you could hanger paper Haggadahs in the windows?
There is also paper hat making. This pastime is very popular in Russia and the Ukraine. Kids make hats out of paper all the time and there are many different folding patterns all sorts of headgear online. You can make hats from colored paper and decorate them with glitter, stickers and other fun things. Try to use heavyweight paper so the hats last. Despite popular perception wearing a homemade paper hat is very cool.
To give celebrations a more personal feel make handcrafted invitations. A personalized handmade invite is a sure way to boost party turnout. It certainly is more effective than a Facebook invite (though the two are not mutually exclusive). It's fun making a special invite to match each guest's taste and personality.
These are only some of the projects you can take one. Chances are you have some great ideas you can try.
