Island Parent Magazine Dec-Jan 2023

Grandparenting
Sunday Crafternoon
It’s a blustery West Coast afternoon, but
my three oldest grandchildren and I
aren’t worried about the weather. We’re
warm and snug inside, rolling up our
sleeves in preparation for a few hours
of creative adventure. I’ve supplied the
large table and the craft supplies; they’ve
brought the unfettered enthusiasm and
sky-high imaginations of four-, five- and
seven-year-olds.
The rules are simple: be kind, be safe
and have fun! There are no other expectations
for our afternoon together. I don’t
know how long my grandkids will remain
engaged in this activity, and I have
no preconceived ideas about what our
crafting will produce. We are freestyling,
operating without instructions, plans, or
even Pinterest pictures to guide us. Our
craft materials are our only source of
inspiration.
The craft supplies themselves are rudimentary.
We have three pairs of scissors
of various sizes, rolls of scotch and masking
tape, washable markers, crayons
and sheets of coloured paper. But most
important, we have a laundry hamper
overflowing with materials otherwise
destined for the recycling bin: cardboard
boxes and tubes, plastic lids and containers,
cards and flyers and other miscellaneous
paper goods. In other words, a
creative treasure trove!
Seven-year-old Kieran takes the lead.
He wants to make a model replica of
Ladysmith, our mutual hometown. I
suggest that we might not be able to construct
the entire town in one afternoon,
but we can certainly start with our favourite
buildings. Kieran immediately gets
underway on a very impressive version
of Ladysmith’s post office. His younger
sister Dahlia and cousin Rhea are game to
contribute to the town as well, but need
a little help constructing their buildings.
In four-year-old Rhea’s case, a box
turned inside-out makes an excellent
Aggie Hall—with the addition of a sloped
roof of course. Five-year-old Dahlia has
her heart set on making a “baby house,”
which she decorates with a door, a window
and a pipe cleaner balloon.
While Kieran continues work on the
post office, I contribute a few more buildings
for my granddaughters to decorate:
two six-story apartment complexes
(inspired by the size and shape of the
boxes in our stash, rather than any actual
Ladysmith structures) and a very basic
model of our local grocery store. To jazz
up the grocery store, we turn its roof into
a park. Kieran supplies the bench, water
slide and pool.
It’s hard work building a town from
scratch, and after an hour and a half my
three builders let me know they’re ready
for a tea break. Assuming their interest
is waning, I begin to tidy up our surplus
materials. But no—they aren’t quite finished
after all! Fortified by licorice tea
and homemade applesauce, they’re ready
for their second shift. Again, Kieran leads
the way, suggesting a quick trip outside
to hunt for sticks to turn into trees.
The second shift goes as smoothly as
the first. Kieran adds a tree-house platform
to his stick-tree, and then moves
on to building a church complete with
a steeple and pipe cleaner cross. Dahlia
and Rhea turn their attention to colouring
and cutting out decorations for their
original structures.
Finally, the moment we’ve been working
toward arrives. We position our
structures and trees on a larger sheet of
cardboard, and just like that our little
town is complete. Well, almost complete.
“We need people!” says Kieran. He’s
right, of course. Happily, we have a bag
of Lego people nearby, just waiting to
populate our new community.
My twin daughters arrive to collect
their children three hours after they
dropped them off—and find them still
engrossed in their cardboard town. By
any measure, our first “crafternoon”
together has been a success. Since I had
almost as much fun as my grandkids, I
assure them it won’t be our last.
Crafternoon Tips:
If a completely open-ended crafternoon
seems a little daunting, the internet
is full of great ideas to get your creative
wheels turning. That said, with the right
materials at their disposal, your grandchildren
might surprise and delight you
with their own original ideas.
Beyond the basics like scissors, glue,
tape, paint, markers and/or crayons,
some of the best crafting materials are
the ones you rescue from your recycling
bin or wastebasket. Keep a box or two
for potential materials: cardboard boxes
of various sizes, paper tubes, interesting
plastic packaging, greeting cards, scrap
fabric, extra buttons, etc.!
Finally, experience has taught me that
any activity goes better when I check
my expectations and follow my grandchildren’s
lead as much as possible. Set
parameters for the essentials like safety
and healthy behaviour, of course, but
do your best to surrender the rest. You
never know where your grandchildren’s
creativity will take you, but it’s sure to be
interesting!
Rachel Dunstan Muller is a
children’s author, storyteller,
podcaster and grandmother.
You can find her podcasts
Hintertales: Stories from the
Margins of History and Sticks
and Stones and Stories
through her website at
racheldunstanmuller.com.
46 Island Parent Magazine
IslandParent.ca