Simple Service Project: Champions for Kids with Fiskars

I am a member of the Collective Bias Social Fabric Community. This Fiskars Champions for Kids shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.

Most of the crafts that I make these days are geared toward The Boy and things that he enjoys. The Fiskars website has a variety of crafts to make with your children, they also offer suggestions for things you might enjoy making on your own. With The Texan out of town for a rugby match and The Boy resting, I decided to use the technique shown in the Grateful Heart Canvas art featured on the Fiskars site. I used a phrase that we say often in our home – “Fair is Where You Get Cotton Candy“. It’s a reminder to everyone that while life isn’t always fair, our family is fortunate to always have more than we need.

Sadly, there are many children that don’t always have what they need. Through monthly service projects, the Champions for Kids program makes it simple to give the children in your area the resources they need to thrive. This month’s simple service project is organized by Fiskars to ensure children have the craft supplies they need to express their creativity.

I had so much fun expressing my creativity, I could hardly wait to gather craft supplies and share them with children in my community. The project took me about an hour, perfect for nap time! On hand, I had a fabric fat quarter, canvas, and craft paints. I remembered to pick up gesso as well as all the art and craft supplies for the donation. (Gesso seals the fabric and prevents the paint from leaking through. The gesso looks like white paint in the photo collage below. Tip: You’ll find this with the fancy art supplies, not with the craft paints.)

The instructions provided by Fiskars were so easy to follow. Because I am impatient, and didn’t have much time, I used my hairdryer to dry the gesso and the paint. The paint wasn’t quite dry when I pulled it off of one of the letters, but the little bit of paint that came off isn’t noticeable. This craft was fun and easy to create; I may even make a few more to give as gifts.

While waiting for the paint to really, really dry on the canvas before I hung it on the wall, I prepped my items for donation. Because I am the parent of a preschooler, many of the items that I chose are geared toward younger children. A variety of Fiskars scissors, Crayola construction paper, Crayola crayons, Crayola water colors, Crayola paint brushes, and Elmer’s glue sticks. I decorated a box using scrap paper from my stash, it stuck together quite nicely with an Elmer’s glue stick!

Once it was packed full, I thought about how excited the children at the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Cape Cod are going to be when they receive it. Sadly, in the past 5 years, the Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket have seen a 65% increase in families living at or below the poverty level– the highest increase in the commonwealth. With poverty comes crime – our county has the highest juvenile crime rate in Massachusetts. That is not a statistic we should be proud of. Children who are paired with Big’s become more adept at forming relationships with adults, which contributes to their abilities to advocate for themselves later in life. These children often do better in school and stay on the right path to reach their potential.

You can learn more about the Champions for Kids program by connecting with them on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest. Be sure to engage with Fiskars on Facebook and Twitter as well.

How do you give back to your community?