Best craft suggestions for child recovering from op?

[onedayatatime73]

Operation for DD (6) on Tuesday. 5 weeks of recovery. She'll be in a wheelchair but otherwise fully able. Any craft ideas so it's not just telly? Eg blow pens. But we have a ton of those. We have stickers and colouring. Things to cut out. Could do with some novel suggestions to brighten the coming weeks!

Teach her to crochet.

Sequin art kits and the scratch art pictures are both hits here, and don't take a lot of learning.

Simple origami, lots of instructions online.

Make some bunting from old fabrics, decorated with fabric pens, sew on felt shapes, buttons etc. Or a pom pom Garland.

Djeco brand makes lots of interesting kits, we've had sewing cards and foil art from them. Hama beads are great for that age too.

Can I also suggest audio books? DD loves listening while crafting.

Google baker road. It's a craft for kids website and currently has a sale on. Loads of lovely stuff and ideas to, she us just the right age for all of it, sadly my boy's are getting to old

I could do loads myself, rainbow keyring kits I fancied, she could make gifts for friends and family

That should be baker ross - stupid auto correct

At that age, my Dd liked making necklaces and bracelets from beads.
Mosaic kit www.galttoys.com/travel-mosaics.html

Jam jar lanterns blog.badgerbalm.com/diy-kids-craft-tissue-paper-lanterns/
theimaginationtree.com/jam-jar-and-tissue-paper-luminaries/

Paper plate weaving cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2014/04/in-art-room-circle-loom-weaving-with.html

Stained glass butterfly typicallysimple.com/stained-glass-butterfly/

French knitting doll

Another vote for baker Ross. I kept 4 kids aged 2-6 entertained on a very rainy holiday for under £20.

Baker Ross has some lovely stuff, reasonably priced.
DD is a similar age, she loves crafting. Some of the nicest things we’ve had are Galt mosaic kit, Kumi Kreator friendship bracelet kit, Weird Science kits - especially the ‘My First’ where you can make crystals and the Exploding boom kit.

I think teaching her to crochet could be good - you can get started fairly cheaply - I’d buy some nice yarn (a Double Knit would be ideal) and a selection of hooks - about £5. There’s loads of online tutorials - Bella Coco and Jayda Institches are brilliant. Get her started doing a granny square which is fairly simple but grows quickly. I started learning 4 years ago and absolutely love it now.

Thanks all. I have disappeared down a Baker Ross rabbit hole.

Baker Ross is amazing at that age, scary how quickly it adds up!

Sort of screen related but there’s a great channel on YouTube Kids called Kids Art Hub which has loads of draw-along tutorials for cute animals, kawaii foodstuffs etc. My dd loves it and has produced some very recognisable items!!
Best of luck to your dd and hope her operation goes well.

Teach her to knit with big plastic needles and thick wool. Making pom poms with cardboard discs would be fun too.
She might like cross stitch if you found a simple kit for her.

Could she make birthday cards for people?

Don't forget Lego. If you haven't got any and don't want to spend much the Wilkos Blox version or Block Tech which is sold in The Works /B+M etc is just find. Infact just go to The Works and you will find craft sets and craft bits, and books (stories and drawing, colouring, activities etc) and jigsaws and toys like Bloc Tech bricks and card/board games all at very reasonable prices.

Knitting or crochet, definitely. There are lots of easy tutorial videos online, or you can get kid's teach yourself kits.

Depending on your budget, we've used a website called Jam, it has structured online 'lessons' for things like drawing, making machines, building lego structures. If there's something she's really interested in, it might give some structure and progression to the 5 weeks.

If you want to teach her to crochet (or you buy a kit and have no idea what you're doing), check out the CraftyMinx Crochet School. I taught myself via her videos and I know others have too.

Glad to hear it hope you don't spend too much!!

Not craft, but how about some jigsaws as a change?

Pom pom making? You can do that with bits of cardboard and make fancy ones using pinterest.
Or a knitting dolly?
You can get everything to make peg dollies at pound world, including the pegs.

I used to do a lot of origami when I was recovering from illness as a child, a book of instructions and coloured paper is all that is needed.

Hama beads.
Also not a craft activity, but jigsaws. Get one bigger than she would usually do, and let her go back and do a few pieces every now and then.
Does she have a cousin/auntie/grandparent she could write/send postcards to? Preferably ones that would write back!
I remember sticking newspaper on a blown up balloon with flour and water glue, paper mâché style. Make sure it dries before a new layer is added. Pop the balloon, make cardboard ears, use the bottom of an egg box for feet, paint and you have a pig!
Make a doll's house out of a biggish cardboard box. Cut the front away on three sides so that you can open the front, and paint the insides. Cut out windows, and use fabrics for curtains.

Polymer clay - Less messy than air dry and far stronger you bake it in the oven.

Hama beads and a laptop tray .