arts 'n' crafts for kids

[coggles]

Our daughter, who is 3 1/2, loves (like most children) drawing, painting, gummed shapes etc. We do lots of stuff at home but I have looked in the local phone directory and the net but can't find any art clubs/groups for pre-school children. We live in the Beds/Herts/Bucks area. Any ideas please?

[woofgang]

If you have a local hobbycraft shop, they do activity sessions for kids for the price of the materials or only a little more. They also usually have a community notice board with info on local classes and clubs The website also has info on http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk

[coggles]

Thanks woofgang. Had a look round the site and links and some of the links look promising. Our nearest Hobbycraft store is Watford which is about 50 minutes away, so we shall bundle the kids in the car and have a good browse and spend!

[woofgang]

you're welcome, if you are as big an addict as me, then leave the plastic at home :-)

[coggles]

I think I'll have to empty the contents of the boot before I go!! I could spend hours roaming around shops like that. We want to put together a big box of arty-craft bit 'n' bobs for our girls, especially for those rainy days. I must be mad - the other day I had to hang the washing out after my daughter had been face-painting me as a cat!! I felt a bit of pr*t but it was good fun!

[woofgang]

Did you have a good time?

[coggles]

I'm afraid an hour long car journey in this weather even with the windows open and cool air blowing, would end in tears - mine probably! When it's not so hot, we shall whizz over and...erm...spend :(

[vittoria]

In my area there are a number of free magazines which carry this kind of information; you could look in your local library/sports centre/playgroup/shopping centre to see if they have a distribution point for similar magazines local to you. One of these mags has a website, I think it is www.familiesmagazines.com; another website, netmums.com is also very good with this sort of info.