4 Crafts to Work on Values with Children
There’s no need to offer long explanations in order to teach a child. In fact, children learn naturally through interaction with their environment and with their educators. Moreover, when there’s a playful component, this learning occurs in a simple and meaningful way. Therefore, we want to show you some crafts to work on values with children and instill in them those principles that will guide their lives.
There are countless values and not all people have and prioritize the same ones. For example, doctor in Psychology Simon L. Dolan, was able to identify, thanks to his research and his many years of work in Area 51, basic universal values. This implies that we won’t always be able to dedicate specific activities in order for our children to understand each one of them, but they can certainly acquire them if they can observe them in their environment.
However, crafts can be an excellent way to bring your children closer to those principles and qualities that are most necessary to you and that you’d like to instill in them for their future. Values will help them to make decisions, guide their behavior, and live a fuller and more harmonious life if they adhere to them. So, why not show them through fun activities to do as a family?
Crafts to work on values with children
Here are some fun options that can contribute to this educational purpose. However, remember that you can modify them to suit your family’s needs and preferences.
1. Stories with value
Children’s stories are a great tool for transmitting values. But what if instead of just reading them, you can create your own stories? If your children are older, you can each choose a value and create a story around it, whose theme and narrative capture a situation in which it’s used. They can also include drawings.
If your children are young, it’s preferable that you work with them and guide them. You can propose an initial situation and let them choose the ending by capturing the use of that value. For example, two squirrels meet in the forest, one of them has many nuts and the other has none. How would the story unfold to emphasize the value of generosity?
2. Value cards
Following Dolan’s work, Dolan and his team designed a set of cards called “The Value of Values,” which helps people identify their core values. If you’re unable or unwilling to purchase it, it’s possible to make a related craft that will serve the same purpose. You can do it this way:
- Cut out several cardboard cards in the shape of playing cards and write on each of them the name of a value. You can also add a drawing that represents its meaning.
- When all the cards are ready, deal three cards to each player. Each player has to compare them with the other cards. If an external card contains a value that seems more important than the ones on your own cards, you can exchange it. Then, by the end, each player will have identified what their three main values are.
- Each time a new card is drawn, you can discuss what that value means and in what situations it occurs. In this way, the children will understand them better and better. If you’re playing with young children, it may be a good idea to divide the game into several sessions and complete it on different days so as not to overwhelm them.
3. Welcome the seasons
This is one of the most versatile crafts to work on values, as it allows many different principles to be addressed. The idea is that, at the beginning of each season, the family gets together to create decorations according to the time of year, which will then be placed in the home.
One member of the family will take the lead: They’ll decide what type of decoration to create (a poster, a garland, or a collage, for example) and the theme (snowmen, flowers, or animals, among others). In addition, you’ll assign roles to the rest of the members (such as who will draw, who will cut, and who will glue).
With all this, you’ll work on several values: Cooperation, family traditions, leadership, planning, and creativity. If you want to do it more often, you can make the craft at the beginning of each month and choose a theme accordingly, for example, Valentine’s Day in February or the beach in August.
4. A gift from the heart
This last craft helps to work on environmental care, innovation, and affection, among other values. It consists of making a gift for each family birthday for the honoree using recycled materials.
It’s important to encourage children to consider what the birthday boy or girl likes and try to reflect this in their gift. For example, if a sibling loves cars, a car-themed greeting card can be created. Or, if mom likes owls, you can make a breakfast plate in the shape of an owl.
Create your own crafts to work on values with children
The above are just a few ideas that you can put into practice, but the options are endless. Think of a value you want to transmit to your little ones and use drawing, play, art, and creativity to elaborate new activities. You can even encourage the children to come up with their own ideas and thus encourage their initiative and strengthen their self-esteem.
In any case, you can enjoy a pleasant family moment that will also contribute to forging a set of values that your children will be able to draw on throughout their lives.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Dolan, S. L. (2020). The Secret of Coaching and Leading by Values: How to Ensure Alignment and Proper Realignment. Routledge.
- Logatt Grabner, C. A. (2016). ¿Cómo influyen las emociones en el aprendizaje? Recuperado de https://www.upla.cl/inclusion/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Descubriendo_el_cerebro_y_la_mente_n83.pdf
