Summer and Miss Delia

[pegkerr]

Fiona would be perfectly happy to spend all summer immersed in the pages of a book or ensconced in front of the computer.

Delia, however, is tougher to please.

She wants to be doing something. Preferably something creative. All the time. Like every minute of the day. And if she doesn't have something to do, she becomes bored very easily and when Delia gets bored . . . well. Our family does not want Delia to become bored this summer. I'll leave the details out, but trust me. I believe that, yeah, kids need to learn to entertain themselves, but there is other stuff going on here that Elinor Dashwood isn't talking about, and really, take my word for it, Delia being bored is a really bad idea. For the whole family.

She took a cake decorating class last week, and that was fun. She has been getting jewelry-making lessons once a week. Yesterday, she bullied Rob into taking the two girls to the Science Museum, and they enjoyed that, too. Rob bought a family membership to the Museum, but you know, there's this little thing about Rob having to find a new job, so he can't take them too often. I think we may buy the two girls a season pass to the swimming pool; it's not too expensive, and Rob can drop them off at the pool and pick them up.

I think she would like cooking lessons, and I checked the co-op food courses schedule, but there aren't any classes particularly nearby. I'm almost desperate enough to walk down the street to the Baker's Wife pastry shop and ask them if they have any use for a twelve year old who is passionately interested in learning everything about pastry. Probably not.

Rob said ruefully that she was threatening to make him drive her to Michael's to buy yarn to start a crochet project today.

Other (inexpensive) ideas to keep a very bright, very creative twelve year old busy and happy throughout the summer? For once, yes, I am asking for advice.

Edited to add: She does know how to knit already, btw. Remember this purse?

Comments

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Origami.

Papier mache.

Writing a book.

[nmsunbear.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think the pastry shop might be charmed. And what have you got to lose? :)

[jeanineers.livejournal.com]

I agree. It might require getting a food worker's permit, but they might love having an apprentice.

[embereye.livejournal.com]

A crazy quilt made out of old clothes/tshirts/cloth mementos she wants to keep around? (One of my projects for my summer) The piecing alone could take forever. Especially if she wants to make it into a picture or something.

Or creating rag rugs perhaps?

[liadan-m.livejournal.com]

rag rugs get tedious, esp. when dealing with creative pre-teens (did that one for xmas this year). Crazy quilts are fun, and the t-shirt quilts are great.

[faeryguinevere.livejournal.com]

Sewing projects? Writing a play? pottery classes?

Mpls Parks classes - there are a ton of those, and they're cheap!

[aome.livejournal.com]

Is she particularly picky about yarn? I could send some of my stash.

Turn old Tshirts or other favorite items of clothing into quilt squares?

Have her bake for a soup kitchen somewhere? They might let her help where a professional shop might not (yet). Then again - it doesn't hurt to ask the professional shops, either!

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Delia would happily accept some of your stash. You know the address!

[etakyma.livejournal.com]

Actually, if you put it to the bakery like an internship they might go for it. She is interested in learning, and that is always a very cool thing.

Also, lots of fun craft ideas for teenagers here:

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/bteencrafts/B_Teen_Crafts.htm

Some of them you need stuff for, but some can be made with stuff found around the house. The alphabet at the top will take you to other pages with more projects.

[mayakda.livejournal.com]

Maybe volunteer at the local library or Y?
(I second the pastry shop idea as worth a shot)
website with more volunteer ideas:
http://life.familyeducation.com/volunteer-work/teen/29594.html
Buy her a cheap pet that she's in charge of (like a beta fish)?
Earn money by pet-walking or pet-sitting or baby-sitting?
Organize something like a yard sale?

[liadan-m.livejournal.com]

ask the pastry shop.

$1/yd fabric at walmart + www.burdastyle.com (open source patterns) if she wants to sew. It'll give her something useful and durable out of the endeavor as well.

Mine's ten. I understand this.

If y'all are going to be at con this weekend, I will have both my sewing machine and laptop/printer handy. As well as a creative, gregarious child dying to hang out with people this summer because she's *bored*.

[http://users.livejournal.com/anam_cara_/]

I have tons of ideas, but have to run out the door right now... have her check out craftgrrl, if you allow her on LJ.

Check your library for the million and one books on t-shirt surgeries/revamping, or even google for directions (if she doesn't have a lot of t-shirts herself, goodwill is a good place to get cheap practice pieces).

Embroidery floss & friendship bracelets, recycling crafts, I'll have a lot of links to give you later.

[seagrit.livejournal.com]

A t-shirt quilt was mentioned by a couple people, I think. I have a pattern for one that I am never ever (!) going to use, and was going to post on freecycle soon, so if she's at all interested in doing that, I will gladly send it to you instead.

[buttonlass.livejournal.com]

I actually have met the people from A Baker's Wife and they might go for it. The husbands name is Gary IIRC, and I once taught a class for Surdyk's they attended. They're really nice.

Also there may still be volunteer opportunities at various "soup kitchens" (or whatever they are called). When I was her age I worked at the one at our church once a week.

Many vendors at Farmers Markets need help usually. The catch is that it is ridiculously early.

[fairmer.livejournal.com]

Things that have amused my similarly-aged stepdaughter in the past:

-giving her a section of the yard and telling her to turn it into something beautiful (gardening books from the library and a few packets of seeds are all that are necessary--or set her to looking for free plants on craigslist and freecycle, with Rob to make the contacts--or see if there are plants around the yard that need splitting)

-scrap wood, hammer nails. Instant birdhouse. Helps if you have scrap wood.

-"Please draw me manga, honey."

-are there any projects you've been hanging onto with "someday" in mind? I had about a dozen unstarted cross-stitch things in a drawer that, when I thought about it, I was able to give up and share. Likewise, yarn. Likewise, oil paints. Likewise...

[pokeystar.livejournal.com]

I second volunteering at the library.

Most of them have summer reading programs that need extra help.

You could suggest display/ bullentin board/ felt storyboard projects for the children's librarian that will utilize Delia's craftiness.

Also: Is there a local children's theater group Delia could do prop crafting, etc. for?

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

I agree with the library and volunteering, and the theater group.

Most of the best summers of my teen years were spent with a youth theater group that took ages 12-21, and lots of people did it every summer through junior high, high school, and college. Great way to make friends!

I don't know about your area, but is there a town summer recreation program for kids?

[sternel.livejournal.com]

I was going to say knitting, and then I saw your crochet mention. (Am I recalling correctly that Delia knows how to knit? I'm pretty hardcore as knitters go, so I was glad to see another knitter. =D) She might find Ravelry a useful timesuck if she enjoys yarncrafts; the project galleries are a heck of a lot of fun.
And echoing someone's comments above, if Delia could make use of yarn, I have a prodigious stash, more than I could knit, and I would be happy to pass it on to someone who would use it.

Another thought: can she volunteer at the public library? My local library used to have a volunteer program where teens would run story hours for small groups, under the librarian's supervision.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yarn donations gratefully accepted! Send to:

Peg Kerr
P.O. Box 2128
Loop Station
Minneapolis, MN 55402. Thanks!

[dreamflower]

I agree with the volunteering ideas.

Also, if she knows how to sew, the following projects are very easy: cloth bags to hold plastic bags for recycling; cloth totes, to avoid the plastic bags in the first place; aprons; small purses.

And knitting and crocheting are *good* ideas.

Also, if you're near a Michaels, check out their summer program--they usually have a one or two week "day camp" for kids. I think that 12 is the cut-off age. Of course, it's a bit of expense.

And not sure how you'd feel about this, but I've known parents who have allowed their kids to go to one VBS after another--attending the ones put on by churches their friends attend as well as their own. Fun, music, crafts, and exposure to what other people think and believe. Since most churches in any particular area stagger the programs, a kid can be occupied most of the summer--and it's free.

[pinkfinity.livejournal.com]

I'm almost desperate enough to walk down the street to the Baker's Wife pastry shop and ask them if they have any use for a twelve year old who is passionately interested in learning everything about pastry.

Do it!

When I was 13, my parents marched me into the just-opened Macintosh store about two miles from our house and I walked out with a three dollar per hour job demonstrating the machines to customers, and it was *fantastic*.

Does the local library need book-readers/interns?

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

I third volunteering at the local library, or at least seeing if they have any projects going on.

[zencuppa.livejournal.com]

Ummmm . . Send her to me, so she can keep busy my four year old who has the attention span of a gnat on uppers??

[naomikritzer]

Hiring her out as a mother's helper was one of the ideas that occurred to me. At least if she likes younger kids.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Hmm.... about that age is when I started keeping track of my comic books on 3x5 file cards. Maybe some degree of cataloging your CDs, or something she's interested in? Sneak in learning about databases...

Music? There are lots of programs to create/edit music for computers. She could write the next Buffy musical or Wizard Rock hit.

In the Heart of the Beast Theater.

Could she tutor someone in English?

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

When I was Delia's age I started some really epic cross-stitch projects. One of those can easily take up an entire summer.

[mayakda.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! Cross stitch can be really engrossing to some people.

[ame-chan.livejournal.com]

Have her teach herself to knit off the internet. There are some lovely soft acrylic yarns that don't cost too much (I am a yarn snob but my kids get acrylic because hey, more merino for me!) at the big box craft stores. Challenge her to learn to knit a sock by the end of teh summer. I'll donate a fun skein of yarn to the cause! I've got some GREAT sock yarns.

Making miniature shrines out of Altoids tins.

Have her peruse Craftster http://www.craftster.org/ and see if there's stuff she wants to teach herself or learn to do.

Got a camera? Got photoshop? #1 daughter really loved teaching herself fun stuff in photoshop.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Yarn would be gratefully accepted, thanks! You can send any you're willing to part with to

Peg Kerr
P.O. Box 2128
Loop Station
Minneapolis, MN 55402

[vass]

I think it's definitely worth asking the pastry shop.

The crochet is also a good idea. Fibre arts are calming as well as creative - it's like productive fidgeting.

I don't know if she draws, but if she doesn't, it might be a good time to take it up. The materials are cheap, just pencils/pens and paper. Even if she's bad at it, it's a learned skill. If you're interested and can afford to get her a book, Drawing on the Left Side of the Brain is good, particularly for people who don't see themselves as good at drawing.

What if you and she wrote an epistolatory novel together? I know creativity is a huge sore spot for you, but I thought I'd throw the idea out anyway, because working with your daughter on a project might be different from mining your own brain for ideas. Also, you and she could work on soul collaging some more.

Could she teach herself computer programming? There's a series of teaching materials here written for a Scripture Union camp aimed for 12-15 year olds. The language they're teaching is Python, which is a full-featured adult computer programming language, not just a toy language like Basic or Logowriter, but which is particularly well suited to beginners. Or, could Rob teach her computer stuff she doesn't know?

And does she have any room for gardening? I don't know if you have a garden, but if not, is there room (even a sunny window somewhere) where she could start some potted plants and care for them?

Also, are there some issues (local or overseas - Amnesty International could help if you can't think of any) that she might want to write and send letters about? For that matter, I think there are sites where she could get a penpal from overseas or interstate - or maybe your church could hook her up with something like that.

Could she come into work with you and do office chores at all? I don't know if your dojo's on a break for the summer or not, but if it isn't, could she help you with the cleaning? For that matter, could she come with you when you're doing housework, and do what you're doing? (I know you have huge, huge trouble getting Rob and the girls to help you, but it might be different when she's so bored, and I know I always found it easier to do chores *with* someone.)

[corinnethewise.livejournal.com]

I used to hate cleaning when someone told me to, but I liked to do it when I got to pick the job I wanted to do and I could listen to whatever music I wanted.

[http://users.livejournal.com/anam_cara_/]

Back!

Sculpey- chibis and mini food are all the rage.
Get a blank journal and give her these to do one a day:
http://www.kerismith.com/100ideas.pdf

Links I've bookmarked in the past:
http://www.make-stuff.com/recycling/index.html
http://jewelrymaking.allinfoabout.com/subjects/allprojects.html
http://www.craftbits.com/
http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/a_to_z
http://www.whatthecraft.com/
http://www.ohmystars.net/craft/index-main.php
http://www.craftsforkids.com/projects.htm#300
http://www.web-goddess.org/writing/tutorial/Image0.html
http://familyfun.go.com/games/indoor-outdoor-games/feature/ff1107-game-of-family-stories/ff1107-game-of-family-stories.html
http://www.metacafe.com/channels/golics/ (check out the paper crafts this person posts!)
http://scitoys.com/
http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

How about Halma beads?

Apparently it's a Danish concept because I've only been able to find home pages in Danish :( But basically they are small beads in different colours which you can either weave into a pattern or put on a board and create different pictures... ehh... really, really difficult to explain, but perhaps by clicking around on the site and looking at the pictures you'll get an idea of what I mean?

Anyway, my sisters and I LOVED them when we were Delia's age. The two younger ones would use the medi beads (5mm diameter) and Nina and I would use the mini beads (2.5mm diameter - you need lots of patience and tweezers) to make patterns or pictures that - when ironed together - looks almost like cross-stitching.

I can get them quite cheap, and would be more than happy to buy you some and send for Delia to see if it's something she might be interested in. Consider a late birthday present for her :)

(Edited 'cause I fail at HTML)

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

If she is a perfectionist, ignore this. These would not have worked for me as a child.

She knows how to knit and crochet: make it more fiddly. Get some tiny thread and a filet crochet pattern-- the first step takes forever, the rest is simple and takes juuuust enough attention to make me sit still. Lace knitting, or more complex patterns? If she gets unmotivated, maybe something like a charity auction would work-- I stopped my filet square a while ago, because the cat likes to help, but if it were a gift, I'd still be picking away at it.

Cross-stitch can also be as fiddly as you want it to be. And quilting seems like a reasonable idea.

I like the pastry shop best, though-- that introduces new people to help keep her unbored.