Intergenerational Crafts by Zelna Oliver

Friday 20th April 2018

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Zelna Oliver is a Stylecraft Blogstar who blogs under the name Zooty Owl.

You can find more of her posts here.

My earliest and most vivid memories are of being engaged in some or other crafty activity with either my mom, granny, grandpa or my great granny.

Mom loved colour and flowers – we would sit for hours and colour in, cut out pictures, make collages, and look through her kaleidoscope.

My granny was a knitter, a great baker and flower gardener.

Grandpa grew vegetables and made all sorts of things for my cousin and me (beds for our dolls, a cupboard for our Barbies and mini kitchen dressers, etc)

My great gran was an expert crocheter and cake decorator.

Being engaged and included in these crafty activities from very early in life gave me a sense of purpose and belonging, and a strong character foundation to build on.    Besides the amazing skills that I learned from them, the stories and life lessons shared have provided me with a place of “wellness” (you can read more about the lessons my grandparents taught me in this blog post).

Having that place of “wellness” from which to approach life makes dealing with difficult situations much easier.

The beauty of this intergenerational interaction is that it is a two-way street. As I grew older and learned new things I was able to share that knowledge with my mom and my granny (sadly my grandpa and great granny died soon after I started high school).

When I had my children they were painting as soon as they were able to hold a brush. By the time they went to playschool their fine motor skills were already extremely well developed. Later, answering the tough questions was made much easier in that we were usually busy with some kind of crafty exercise when they arose – so the conversation was way less awkward!

My first little grandbaby is just six weeks old and I cannot wait to share my crafty knowledge with her!

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