Crafty Gifts for Pre-Teen Boys

One of the first crafts I bought for my boyfriend's kids was a set of wooden items from the dollar store. Wouldn't you know it, they made me an instant hero! The kids spent hours painting miniature wooden birdhouse ornaments, photo frames, tiny boxes with a latch, scarecrow hangings, refrigerator magnets, mail slots, and popsicle sticks. We've also tried clay flowerpots and balsa wood snap-together airplanes, which were a big hit!

Painting is an art that anyone can enjoy, so you won't see much resistance from the boys on this one, especially if they can use the toys to stack and crash into with a wind-up car.

In the image above, the then 12-year-old intently paints a clay flowerpot in patriotic colors.

Popular in the 80's, plastic canvas crafts have recently gotten a bad reputation for being scary. It's true, I've seen my share of scary plastic canvas art in the past. But as far as crafts go, it's one of the easiest, least messy things to try, and can be incredibly versatile.

At first glance, my pre-teen boys didn't want anything to do with plastic canvas. But as soon as they saw how it worked, and how they could use it create soft-covered products that still had strength and form, they were all over it. Cell phone trays and covers, coasters, remote boats, camera cases, even a remote-controlled helicopter landing pad. You'd be amazed at what kind of interesting things they'll want to create using "scary" plastic canvas.

Image courtesy of Mountainside Crochet and a Creative Commons license.

Crocheting is a skill best mastered with a mentor. I learned when I was 5 or 6, and two years ago I successfully taught my boyfriend's 12 year old son how to chain a basic scarf. He's created 3 or 4 since, then and even gave his step-sister one as a birthday gift! The younger kids became easily frustrated, so we're not attempting crocheting for now.

Below is my #1 recommendation for a how-to book for a beginner of any age.

If you have kids you know how they can turn paper into anything. Markers and crayons are out. Foam stickers are in.

I bought a box of foam letter stickers for a project and I could barely get the lid off before all of the kids, boys included, were arguing over the card forms and claiming their phrases. We've used simple construction paper and foam stickers to create cards for every occasion - birthday, Mother's Day, Easter, Christmas.

It doesn't take much encouraging to get even the boys to play with these stickers. One of the first things the oldest did was label my compound bow case with my name!