Maker Camp: Heritage Crafts and Skill-Building Projects for Kids

by Delanie Holton-Fessler

Classic and innovative hands-on projects for kids ages 3 and up designed to teach both heritage skills and how to think creatively.

Handcraft is part of human nature: we build, we create, we innovate. The 20+ projects in this book from an experienced art educator weave a story of human innovation and creativity, from the very beginnings of building shelters in the woods to tinkering with recycled materials. Heritage skills teach children how to be independent and capable makers; fiber and wood projects offer rewarding crafts that also teach planning, preparation, and safe risk taking; and tinkering activities connect the low-tech process of making and doing with innovation. From soap carving and knot tying to building toy cars and junk robots, this book brings the fun of making things with your hands to young kids and links skills of the past with the present.

The book also explores how to set up a maker space and teaches foundational workshop practices that can easily be applied to the home studio. Each project offers extensions for different ages and abilities and provides guiding questions to enrich the experience for both the maker (teacher/parent) and the apprentice (child) to encourage and celebrate creative, practical play.

• ISBN10: 1611807840
• ISBN13: 9781611807844
• Publish Date: 23 February 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Shambhala Publications Inc
• Format: Hardcover (US Trade)
• Pages: 176
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781611807844

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Maker Camp is a cool project book and philosophy guide to heritage crafts and skills by Delanie Holton-Fessler. Due out 23rd Feb 2021 from Roost Books, it's 176 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is a no-nonsense usable guide to crafting and skill-building tutorials aimed at kids (but with useful takeaways for all ages). The author has experience with community based crafts and skills workshops aimed at kids and it shows. Her instruction is basic, accessible, fun, and full of positivity (you *can* do it and, refreshingly, what to do when it doesn't go to plan). The introduction covers safety, workshop setup, materials, and best practice. The section on shop safety is very well written and full of good advice. There are a lot of good prompts in this section which will guide crafters into thinking about their creative processes and using what they've learned to improve further skills and outcomes.

The following chapters contain the tutorials and are arranged roughly thematically: heritage skills (shelter, soap carving, fire-making, bows & arrows, herbal salves), fiber arts (weaving, creating cording, mending, hand sewing a stuffie, natural dyes), woodworking (toolbox, bee hotel, limberjacks, toy cars, 2x4 challenge), and tinker build & play (junk robots, tiny town, simple machines, mini kites, cardboard creators). These are appealing and whimsical, useful and do-able crafts and skills.

This is a really useful resource guide for parents, educators, child-minders, grandparents, makers' and scouting groups, library activity groups, and the like. Some of these activities would really work fine over remote meeting/zoom (with adult supervision, obviously). A lot of these projects result in useful items (bee hotel, construction projects, and others) and will give kids confidence, planning experience, and skills.

Five stars. Well worth a look. 12 year old me would've absolutely *loved* this book.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.