If you have children around the same age as mine, you’ll know the battle. The moment there’s a spare hour in the day, everyone drifts off to their own corner of the house with their own screen, and before you know it the whole afternoon has disappeared without anyone actually spending it together.
With one at 13 and one at 11, I’ve accepted that family time has to compete with group chats, gaming and whatever is trending on YouTube this week. Forcing it never works. So when we stumbled into something that all four of us genuinely enjoy, it felt like a small parenting miracle worth writing about.
It started, as these things often do, completely by accident on a rainy Sunday.
The rainy Sunday that started it all
We’d planned a walk that got rained off, the kids were bickering, and I was one “I’m bored” away from losing the plot. In a slightly desperate moment, I dug out an old watercolour set from the craft drawer and suggested we all paint whatever was on the kitchen table.
I fully expected eye rolls. What I got instead was an hour and a half of the calmest our kitchen has been in months.
There’s something about painting that seems to switch everyone into a slower gear. Nobody was performing or competing. We chatted about school, music and holidays while we painted, in that easy sideways way that only really happens when hands are busy.
By the end of it, our daughter had painted the fruit bowl, our son had painted what I think was a dragon, and I had decided this needed to become a regular thing.
Making it a proper routine
We now do a craft afternoon most Sundays, usually for an hour or two after lunch. It’s very low pressure, and I think that’s exactly why it has survived where other family activities have fizzled out.
There are only two rules. Phones stay in another room, and nobody is allowed to say their creation is rubbish. The second rule gets broken weekly, usually by me.
I’ve learned to keep everything in one basket so setting up takes two minutes. If I had to gather supplies from around the house every week, I know full well it would never happen. The basket comes out, the kettle goes on, and everyone picks whatever they fancy working on.
Finding kits that worked for us
The old craft drawer supplies only got us so far, and half-dried felt tips will test anyone’s creativity. What made the biggest difference was switching to proper kits where everything you need is in one box.
After a bit of searching I ordered a couple of craft kits from Tobios and they’ve been perfect for what we wanted. We went for a watercolour kit and an embroidery kit to see what everyone would take to, and I liked that they come with everything included, so there’s no separate hunt for decent brushes or the right thread.
The watercolour kit has been the biggest hit in our house. The paints are lovely quality, much nicer than anything we’d had before, and having a proper sketchbook included has meant the kids treat it as something a bit special rather than just scrap paper scribbling.
Our daughter has claimed the embroidery kit as her own, which I’m choosing to take as a win even though I had my eye on it myself. She stitches away quite happily while the rest of us paint, and there’s something quite lovely about watching a 13 year old choose thread over TikTok, even if it’s only for an hour.
What our afternoons actually look like
I want to be honest here, because I know how these things can sound on a blog. Our craft afternoons are not a picture perfect scene of wholesome family bonding. There are spilled water jars, someone always hogs the good brush, and at least once a month our son declares that art is boring and slopes off early.
But most weeks, it works. The kids moan about putting their phones away and then forget about them within ten minutes. That alone feels like magic.
What I’ve noticed most is the talking. Something about sitting side by side, everyone focused on their own little project, seems to open the kids up in a way that “how was school” across the dinner table never does. I’ve heard more about friendship dramas and playground politics over paint water than I have anywhere else.
And the paintings themselves have become a bit of a family record. We keep everything in the sketchbooks, dated, even the wonky ones. Flicking back through them is already lovely, and I suspect it’ll be even more special in a few years.
Tips if you want to try it
If you fancy starting something similar with your family, here’s what has worked for us.
Keep it short and regular rather than long and occasional. An hour on a Sunday beats a whole afternoon once every school holidays.
Buy a kit rather than bits and pieces. Having everything in one box removes all the friction, and the quality is usually far better than a random assortment of supplies.
Let everyone do their own thing. We tried a “family project” once and it caused more arguments than a Monopoly board. Side by side crafting, each on your own creation, is much more peaceful.
Lower your expectations, then lower them again. Some weeks it lasts twenty minutes. That still counts.
Join in properly yourself. The kids are far more likely to settle into it when they see you painting too, rather than tidying around them or checking your emails.
Screen-free time with a 13 and 11 year old felt like a lost cause in our house not that long ago. Turns out all it took was some paint, a bit of thread, and a rainy Sunday with nothing else to do. If you give craft afternoons a go with your family, I’d love to hear how you get on in the comments.
Check out my other craft activities articles for more inspiration.
