About

Eco-Friendly Crafty Fun

We think craft time should be simple for parents and fun for kids!  Our top two priorities are our kids and the environment.  We recommend open ended craft projects that are fun for kids and easy on the earth. Our craft recommendations are for preschool and early elementary kids.

More about what we look for in Crafts for Kids

  • Open-ended crafts so that small kids can practice basic crafting skills (such as gluing, cutting, pasting, etc) while older kids can get more sophisticated with their projects
  • Seasonal themes to draw on natural interest and generate social awareness.  Our craft ideas follow the calendar, so kids will easily relate to the craft they’re working on.
  • Crafts are a great way to educate while kids play and explore new skills. Along with craft supplies, consider idea sheets and fun facts for kids who need guidance to get started.  These can be used as a jumping-off point for kids.  Some kids love instructions, some kids go where their imaginations take them.  It’s all good!
  • Varied craft techniques and end results to challenge creativity, develop new skills, and extend into creative play

Our Environmental Commitment

  • We use recycled content wherever we can
  • We purchase craft supplies that can be recycled
  • We avoid craft foams and plastics
  • We look for minimized packaging and printing
  • We look for plant-based sustainable and compostable clear packaging
  • We use craft supplies that are manufactured in either the USA or Canada
  • We integrate eco-awareness into our craft themes and ‘fun facts’ wherever possible

How We Got Started

Craft Caravan started out with the Kids Craft Club – a monthly subscription that sent craft packages to kids in the mail every month. We sent packages to kids all over North America for over 7 years, including craft supplies, instructions, and fun facts.  Our craft club kept growing, which was pretty exciting.  We had teachers, caregivers and parents contacting us to tell us how much they enjoyed the crafty ideas and how they were re-using them in daycare or at school. So we’ve shifted our focus and have become a resource for craft ideas.  This is more in-line with our environmental commitment to re-use what we can find for craft projects instead of getting new supplies each month.

Our goal is to make it easy for parents and caregivers to give their kids some hands-on time (especially in this digital age!).  Kids can learn a lot through craft time, and it’s a great way to entertain one or two kids or a big group of kids.  But finding ideas and preparing can take time, and that’s where we come in.  We started Craft Caravan when we realized there were other parents like us – we weren’t the only ones scrambling for craft ideas and supplies to entertain our kids with crafts.  We make craft time simple and fun, and that’s exactly what busy families need.

Want to learn more about Keri Zingle, owner of Craft Caravan?  See this interview with True Cuddles

Craft Caravan Family

Here are our Crafty Kids aka the ‘Testing Crew’ :

Crafty Girl

About Our Crafty Girl:

Favourite colour: silver

Favourite crafting activity: making scrap books, drawing

Favourite crafting mediums: paper, ribbons, glitter, pencil crayons

Interesting facts: loves to make props for  pretend play, interested in everything nature

Crafty Boy

About Our Crafty Boy:

Favourite colour: blue

Favourite crafting activity: building things, cutting with scissors, collage

Favourite crafting mediums:  sand, craft sticks, paints, glue

Interesting facts: is left-handed, never uses craft materials the way they’re shown in instructions, because he has his own plans!