Nourishing the bond you have with your foster children is something that will pay off greatly in the end. A more healthy bond between you and them is necessary to make your coexistence meaningful.
But planning some tasks with your foster kids can feel overwhelming. You can spend hours wracking your brain to come up with interesting ideas. So what to do?
DIY or do-it-yourself projects are the best and most interactive solution for building your relationship with your foster kids. DIY projects aren’t expensive, nor do they require outdoor activities all the time.
However, we’re going to give you three fun and fantastic DIY project ideas, which you can do to shine up the relationship with your foster kids.
3 Fantastic DIY Projects to Help You Get Along with Your Foster Kids
Whether it’s your biological kids or foster, children require fun time to be more physically and mentally involved. You can’t expect them to act like adults.
Many parents prefer older children, wondering if an adult can be adopted instead of kids to avoid problems. But the whole point here is to get along with the kids by doing things that they like.
And if your foster kids aren’t in school yet, these fun kid activities can play a vital role in grooming.
So let’s have a look at the three most exciting DIY projects you can do with your foster kids while exchanging fun and love with each other:
- Flowerpot Wind Chimes
Making wind chimes is a fun activity for kids, and you can try doing it together. Those colorful chimes in flowerpots can look and sound awesome in the garden, yard, or porch. Kids just love it. And if you not only inspire them to make these chimes but also help them do it, they’ll be delighted.
Things you need to DIY flowerpot chimes:
- Terracotta pots with holes in the bottom: 4-5 pieces (preferably of the same shapes and sizes)
- Wind chimes: 1 for each pot if the pots are of the same sizes
- A robust synthetic cord: 1 long strand
- Small items for decoration such as clay charms
- Beads
- Tape
- Threads
Here goes the DIY tutorial once you’ve assembled the items:
- Step 1: Thread through the beads and bind with each chime.
- Step 2: Decorate with clay charms around the terracotta pots.
- Step 3: Insert each chime thread through each pot-hole. Attach something like bottle caps with the trailing threads so they don’t recede.
- Step 4: Now you can bind each thread to the synthetic cord and hang it on the porch or yard. Or you may hang each thread separately to the cord.
Now, wait with the kids for the wind to nudge those beautiful chimes and make the soothing ringing sound. Or let your kids touch them and make the sound themselves.
- Pitter Patter Rainsticks
Kids and grown-ups equally love the sound of the rain. So you can utilize this liking and inspire them to recreate that rainy experience.
Here, your foster kids will find it exciting to make rainsticks that can replicate the pitter-patter noise. Also, the sense of creativity that goes into the making is priceless.
What you need for this DIY are as follows:
- Aluminum foil
- Cardboard tube
- A broom handle
- A wooden stick
- Electrical tape
- Dried rice or birdseed (½ cup)
- Decorative items (markers, crayons, stickers, paper, etc.)
- Glue
- Scissors
And here’s how to DIY a rainstick:
- Step 1: Cut a foil sheet into a 10-inch-wide strip.
- Step 2: Roll the foil sheet into a long and narrow shape.
- Step 3: Wrap the foil sheet around the broom handle. It will become a spiral.
- Step 4: Now, cut another foil sheet into a seven-inch-wide strip.
- Step 5: Turn it into a narrow wire-like shape.
- Step 6: Like before, wrap it around a wooden stick to make it a spiral.
- Step 7: Now, place the cardboard tube on a sheet and draw a circle around its end. Do the same with the other end near the first one. Now, draw a bigger circle around each of the previous circles.
- Step 8: Cut out the bigger circles.
- Step 9: Now, make thin cuts with scissors from the outer circles toward the inner circle edges. They should look like sunflowers.
- Step 10: Stick a sunflower-like circle on one end of the cardboard tube; the inner circle will block the opening while the shredded parts are glued around the opening of the tubes.
- Step 11: After blocking one end, put the two spiraled foil sheets inside the tube.
- Step 12: Now pour ¼ cup of dried rice into the tube. Close this end in the similar way you did for the other one.
- Step 13: Wrap the tube with a white sheet. Then color it with crayons, add stickers and glitters to it, and write names or other things with the markers.
Your rainstick is ready. Now twist it up and down to hear the relaxing rain-like sound. And let your foster kids enjoy what they’ve just made.
- Coloring with Reusable Crayons
Crayons are like jewels to kids. Those colorful sticks are hard to take away from them. But what if the crayons are old and dusty?
No worries. You can simply recycle them for future use. Teach your foster kids how to recycle them, so they can learn to utilize used crayons.
Things you need:
- A collection of the old crayons (cut, broken, dusty, and of every size)
- A silicon mold or pot
- A microwave oven or a stove
DIY for this hack:
- Step 1: Put all the pieces of used and battered crayons in the silicon mold or pot.
- Step 2: Put the pot inside the microwave oven and heat the crayons to a melting point.
- Step 3: Take out the hot crayon liquid. Let it cool a bit and pour it into an ice tray. Freeze it overnight (you can use decorative ice trays for more kiddish designs).
- Step 4: Take out the tray the next morning. Let the crayons loosen a bit and then take them out.
Give these recycled crayons to your foster kids, so they can draw and color away.
Final Thoughts
Those are our three DIY project ideas to make your bond better and more fun with your foster kids. These playful and educational ideas can keep you and the kids engaged with each other.
Make some time to participate in such activities at least once a month. As foster parents, you should value and make the most of the time you spend with these kids.
Explore more creative and fun DIY ideas, so you and your foster kids don’t get bored with the repetitive tasks every week or month.