Side by Side: 20 Collaborative Projects for Crafting with Your Kids [Paperback]

Tsia Carson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 21, 2012

Crafting is always more fun and more meaningful when it’s shared with those you love. Discover the joy of working alongside your child while creating arts and crafts that inspire. With these twenty whimsical projects in a variety of mediums, you and your child will find fun ways to work collaboratively and independently—together on the same project, or side by side on related projects. Create Giant Newspaper Snowflakes that take traditional paper snowflakes to magical new levels. Create surprising monoprints that take glitter glue to new heights. Explore the versatility of embroidery with a child-friendly version that uses a leaf as the canvas and a more advanced version that uses a child’s drawing for stitching inspiration. Get out in the garden and plant a Living Willow Teepee that will be a perfect playhouse and retreat for years to come.

Some of life’s best moments are spent simply doing things in the presence of the ones we love, not necessarily doing the same thing together, but being together and working side by side. The craft projects in this book will help you to create just those moments with your child.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This delightful book is illustrated throughout with clear and inspiring photographs of kids at work and the beautiful things they make. The beautifully written text walks parents and caregivers through the whole process, showing us not only how to do the projects but how to slow down and enjoy this time with kids at our side.”--Ellen Lupton, author of D.I.Y. Kids and Design Your Life

About the Author

Tsia Carson is the force behind SuperNaturale.com ("an independent site dedicated to the Do-It-Yourself culture in all its glorious forms"). Carson has taught at Yale and the Rhode Island School of Design, and is a partner at the design firm Flat, which counts Knoll, MoMA, and the American Red Cross among its clients. Her previous book, Craftivity: 40 Projects for the DIY Lifestyle (Collins, 2006), was reviewed in Nylon, Readymade, Bust, and Time Out. It was featured on Etsy and picked by the Amazon editors as one of the Ten Best Home and Garden books of 2006.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Roost Books; 1 edition (August 21, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590309561
• ISBN-13: 978-1590309568
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.5 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #112,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Crafts & Hobbies > Crafts for Children

More About the Author

Tsia Carson is the force behind SuperNaturale.com ("an independent site dedicated to the Do-It-Yourself culture in all its glorious forms"). Carson has taught at Yale and the Rhode Island School of Design, and is a partner at the design firm Flat, which counts Knoll, MoMA, and the American Red Cross among its clients. Her previous book, Craftivity: 40 Projects for the DIY Lifestyle (Collins, 2006), was reviewed in Nylon, Readymade, Bust, and Time Out. It was featured on Etsy and picked by the Amazon editors as one of the Ten Best Home and Garden books of 2006.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional book for crafting with your kids! September 1, 2012

By mmemq

Format:Paperback

A beautifully designed book filled with inspiring projects to do together....the projects are wonderfully uncomplicated but completely engaging and really FUN for both child and adult. The text is thoughtful and clear and the photographs are beautiful.
The whole concept of this book, "Side by Side", is so well considered and makes this an exceptional book!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My daughter and I loved this book October 16, 2012

By Shala Kerrigan TOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Side by Side: 20 Collaborative Projects for Crafting With Your Kids is focused on artistic projects you can either do with your children or projects you can set up for your children to do while you do something similar.

The crafts remind me of the material in my vintage craft book collection, specifically late 60s- mid 70s books, in a very good way. These are very natural, open crafts that give children a lot of room to express themselves and to enjoy nature. This book contains monoprints, stamping, embroidery, some hand sewing and other projects, all of them fairly simple with lots of room for a child's natural expression. The author also includes a lot of tips on how to set it up and make the project as much fun as possible. Some of them are very outdoorsy, natural crafts, others are perfect for a rainy afternoon. All of them are good ideas for spending time with a child and encouraging their artistic vision and creativity.

The first chapter, Collaborators is projects you do with your children. Some of them you set up the project and provide some guidance, such as the giant paper snowflakes, others like doll from a drawing will use different skills from both you and your child. All of the projects have a strong emphasis on the creativity of the child.

Companion Projects are worked side by side, you can do one project and offer help as needed to the project they are doing. These include working with succulents to make a terrarium and a wreath, or a hand-sewn necklace for a child to make a simple, elegant crocheted lariat for an adult to make.

Family Field Trips encourages kids to think of the world as a space to play and create. The Seed Self-Portrait is a great group project, and I'm absolutely charmed by the living willow playhouse.

The projects have good instructions with great tips for doing them with children. The author is enthused and knowledgeable. It's a wonderful book with projects that have a strong focus on creativity and less focus on perfection. It's about quality time and building memories and confidence.

My teenage daughter loves it as well, and we've been doing side by side crafting her entire life.
[The book reviewed was provided to me at no cost for the purposes of review. I received no other compensation, and my review is my honest opinion of the product.]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars great book for co-crafting with kids October 10, 2012

By Amy Bowers

Format:Paperback

The book is broken up into three sections. The first, features crafts that you can do with your children. The second is brilliant because each project is presented with two companion projects at different levels, so your child and you can work next to each other on independent projects that share a skill set. And the final section offers a few projects to do outside the home.

One of Carson's tips for working with kids is to transform a typical craft project to something really big. I love this idea and can see how it might be applied to a myriad of projects around here.

Not only are the projects unique and engaging (how about a huge seed self portrait on the ground at the park?), but her philosophy is worth reading too. She offers great reminders on working with children on creative projects.

This would make a great gift for a crafty family with several children!