We’ve teamed up with Arts Sisterhood to put together this activity guide full of ideas for Art Therapy exercises to use with your Craft Club, with a crafty twist of course! Each activity can be tailored to suit your club members’ ability or craft interest. Activities can support members who are having a difficult time, or just to give yourselves a bit of mental health TLC when things are hectic.

Cardboard Automata are a creative, playful way to make a mechanical sculpture while exploring simple machine elements such as cams, levers, and linkages. This fun tutorial by the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium, San Francisco, introduces the basics of building automata. Developed for use by Craft Clubs but suitable for Key Stages 2 and above. Cardboard Automata are a great example of an activity that integrates science and art. Full STEAM ahead!

Artist Jennifer Collier’s stunning paper objects include typewriters,telephones and tea sets. She’s put together this handy guide to making your very own pair of adorable paper shoes. What does it mean to walk in someone’s shoes? Your Craft Club members could use maps of a special place, or scan in and print photographs, tickets or memorable objects to use for their shoes, and share a life experience or event from their perspective.

Ceramicist Sam Andrew demonstrates how to make a basic vessel from two pinch pots and shows a few options for decorating the finished piece. The tutorial works withstandard clay and air hardening clay. Regular clay must be fired in a kiln in order to be functional. If you don’t have access to a kiln then air hardening clay is a really nice way to get your hands making!

Simple Hexagon Tessellation Patchwork is traditionally a technique for using up old clothing and textiles. The shapes are striking yet are achieved with very few simple techniques. We have used just 2 colours to make this flower pattern, but make your patchwork vibrant and personal by mixing and matching colours and prints. Designed for use by Craft Clubs but suitable for upper Key Stage 1 a d above. Links to art and design and maths curricula.

Craft Club’s goal is to give everyone a chance to get making, and we aim to provide you with the support you need to make this happen. We’re pleased to share the first of a range of practical resources to support the delivery of your amazing craft activities. Our Crafters with SEND resource has been developed in partnership with Hackney ARK to help you include makers of all abilities in your Craft Clubs. The resource includes: • Suggestions about how to adapt craft activities for a range of abilities • Ways to ensure your venue is accessible to everybody • Help with communication and teaching techniques • Prompts and activity suggestions

This activity is perfect for Design Technology students in Key Stage 5 (aged 16-18). Speculative design is a type of design that asks designers to consider possible futures and solve problems that have not happened yet. Speculative designers are encouraged to be incredibly immaginative and work outside of what is currently possible. Take inspiration from designers Dunne and Raby, James Auger, Elio Caccavale, Marije Vogelzang and Noam Toran. Challenge yourself to consider how design can be used to shape the future. Your response could include graphic design, textiles design and / or product design

This mini version of our Craft Club handbook gives a 3 week plan for learning to knit, including casting on, knit stitch, knit and purl, and casting off! If you are interested in setting up a Craft Club in your school and would like a more detailed version of our handbook, then please email knit1@craftclub.org.uk.

This handout gives instructions on how to finger knit - a technique that is much faster to pick up than knitting itself and is perfect as a predecessor to other yarn crafts.

Have a go at making your very own March hare or origami bunny! They may seem difficult to fold at first, but after a little practice youʼll be making bunnies with no trouble. Use different sizes of paper to make a rabbit family. Alternatively, you can use sheets of patterned paper to make a colourful grouping. Designed for use by Craft Clubs but suitable for upper Key Stage 1 and above.

This basketry project is simple to do and you’ll soon see a quick result. The weave is very relaxing and helps improve concentration and manual dexterity as well as boosting confidence in making things. Designed for use by Craft Clubs but suitable for Key Stages 1 and above.

This activity involves heating water on a hob and should be supervised by an adult. Shibori is a resist dyeing technique from Japan. Fabric is folded, tied or clamped and then dyed—the ties and folds stop the dye reaching the fabric and make a pattern. Shibori usually uses blue indigo dye but in this activity you’ll use turmeric and salt to create a yellow colour.

These ceramic daisies are a great introduction to working with clay and learning about basic geometry. The daisies can be assembled in any way you wish to create crafty decorations and artwork. Designed for use by Craft Clubs but suitable for Key Stages 2 and above.

Design guru Max McMurdo has put together a special woodwork tutorial explaining how to take a simple old drawer and transform it into a special personalised display case! Follow the steps to learn about measuring, sawing, sanding and painting wood. Designed for use by Craft Clubs, the resource is suitable for Key Stage 3 and above and links to the Design Technology curriculum.

Artist Claire Wellesley-Smith shows you how to create your own natural dyes using pomegranates in this Craft Club activity resource.

STEAM-based resource using a simple chemistry experiment that doubles up as a craft tutorial. Black ink is made up of different coloured substances mixed together. Chromatography is used to separate dissolved substances from a mixture. Some substances dissolve better than others, so travel further through fabric or paper. Sarah’s tutorial shows you how to use this fun, easy experiment to make a colourful design for a cotton tote bag. Can be adapted to most curriculum levels linking to chemistry or D&T.

Bauhaus was an art movement founded in Germany in 1919. The movement rejected the traditional divide between fine art, craft and design and bought them together ‘under one roof’. Bauhaus artists focussed on the use of materials and thought that an object’s form should be inspired by its function. Challenge yourself to recreate one of Josef Albers’ geometirc paper sculptures.

Notting Hill Carnival is one of the world’s biggest street festivals. Led by members of the Caribbean community, the soundsystems, atmosphere and beautifully crafted costumes make it a highlight of the year for Londoners. Costumes are made at Mas Camps, where every year designers, craftspeople and volunteers make stunning, creative costumes built around welded wire frames and based around their chosen theme. Gemz Mas specialise in costumes for children, and have picked “Gulliver’s Travels” as their theme for 2018. In this tutorial Giselle will teach you how to make accessories for Mas Costumes, including a neck piece, belt and wrist and leg accessories. Images copyright Giselle Carter

Director of the Forest School Association, Lily Horseman, takes you step by step through this den building activity!

Craft Journeys is the Crafts Council’s series of resources showcasing the professional and educational paths available for a variety of careers in the craft industry.

Crafty guy and keen quilter Chris Webb has put together this tutorial to help you make your own unique mini quilt. Design your own template and use some modern tricks and tips to make English Paper Piecing a breeze! Start off with a simple design, and make things more complicated as you grow in confidence— you’ll go from mini to maxi quilts in no time.