Crafts for Kids

I'm a sucker for kid's craft books. Seriously, it is like a disease with me. This picture is one of my shelves with craft books on it. I have others scattered around in various places. Today I was doing the boy's schedule for school next week. Normally, I can whip up the schedule in 15 minutes or so. After doing it so many years, it's not hard to get it done. The crafts, however, are what take up my time. I do themed weeks, especially this time of year with all of the holidays, and finding new crafts is the real time killer.

I find myself looking online and that makes me totally frustrated. A lot of times the directions don't make sense, or the projects are too hard or easy for the boys, or there are no pictures. What's up with that? Craft projects NEED pictures to go with them. Some of my books have drawings instead of pictures of the actual project. I hate that. I like photographs. It's a pain in the butt to have to go to the computer during our art time, find the link, and print out the directions. It wouldn't be bad if just the craft project printed, but that never happens. You get 3 pages of ads and blank papers with only a few words on it. It's a waste of paper and a waste of time. This is why I love real books that I can set in front of us while we're working.

I've often thought about making my own craft books using themes like we do for school. Then after awhile, I start thinking about the gazillion crafts featured online and I start telling myself there probably is no market for another kid's craft book. That just depresses me. But then later, I'll do the schedule and start that time consuming search online for new ideas and the frustration comes right back. If I like craft books then other people have to like them, right? I don't know. I don't know if there is a market still, and if so, how hard it is to get something like that published. However, I do have some ideas that I don't see in my books and online. Maybe someday ...