Top 5 Tips for Starting a Kids Arts & Crafts Club

 Want to teach arts & crafts to kids, but STUCK on where to start? 

When you don’t know where to start, the danger is that it’s easy to start in the wrong place.

Today we’re sharing our top 5 tips for starting a kids arts & crafts club!

And because figuring out how to start can be overwhelming, we've put together a FREE beginners starter pack to take the guesswork out of what to teach.

As part of the FREE starter pack, we’re sharing three of our favourite done-for-you, tried and tested and kid approved lesson plans. The lessons include a supply list, a fun introduction, games to play during class, parent handouts and step-by-step craft instructions.

Click the image below to download the free starter pack 👇🏻👇🏻

Over the past few years we went from having no flexibility and feeling unfulfilled to starting and growing our own successful kids art & crafts club. 

We started with 1 studio and grew to teaching at 61 fixed venues in 2 years. 

Since, we’ve had the privilege to help thousands of other creatives from all over the world in as many as 22 countries to start and grow their own clubs too. 

Now it’s your turn! 

Watch the video below or continue reading to hear our top tips for starting a kids arts & crafts club so YOU TOO can start doing what you love… let’s get started!

 When starting out you need 4 things: 

1. A venue
2. Students
3. Supplies
4. Lessons to teach

 Let’s start with a venue: 

When starting out you might think you need a fancy studio space, but the reality is that you can get going right away from home around your dining room table or with a mobile club.

That means hosting your classes, parties and events at a venue such as a restaurant, a school, a sports centre with lap tables, a church, or community centre. The options are endless!

Click here to check out the video we did on how to find a venue (if you don’t have your own studio) plus grab the free magic script to know exactly what to say to the venue owner.

 Now let’s chat about students: 

In our experience, word of mouth is by far the most effective way to start building your student client base. 

Tap into your existing network first, use the parents groups that you are on, tap into the schools network, Facebook groups, and contact friends with kids. 

Next, tap into the network of your venue; ask them to help you spread the news. 

Another very effective way to fill seats quickly is to find a host. What do I mean by this? This means you find a host that will arrange and host the event and you simply show up to provide the creative activities. You tap into their network, they find the students and you don’t have to do any marketing yourself.

It is so much easier to run a class with a host than it is to run a class that is open to the general public. 

For example, a kids party. The parents do all the arrangements (arrange the kids), they pay you, and all you have to do is show up and do the arts & crafts with the kids (the best part!)

The same goes for holiday clubs, end of year functions, baby showers, paint parties and team building activities. 

 Next up: let’s chat about supplies 

Going arts & craft supply shopping can be very intimidating if you don't know what to buy and what not to buy.

We had no idea what to buy when we started our club. But crafting with kids on a daily basis over the years has helped us a lot to see and understand which supplies and brands work best and which ones just don’t.

The irony is that the BEST crafting projects and experiences come from using a small list of basic supplies. And you’ll see that you end up using these supplies over and over again. You don’t need fancy supplies to create something awesome. 

We use a ton of recycled materials to craft with, which brings supply costs down and teaches kids valuable lessons about making something wonderful out of nothing.

Look at these amazing crafts made out of recycling: 

 Venue, students, supplies… check. Now what lessons should you teach? 

When selecting an art or craft lesson to do with kids, be careful to not select a project on Pinterest or Instagram without testing it out first. Most crafts online are created by adults using a glue gun with steps that a child won’t be able to do by themselves. So make sure your project is kid-approved, and that it is age appropriate, topical and fun!

Grab the free kid-approved, tried-and-tested lesson plans as part of your starter pack. These will give you loads of confidence and save you a ton of time!

And that’s it. 

Before we wrap up we’d like to share a bonus tip. Here it is:  

Keep it simple; keep your craft simple, keep your venue simple, your supplies simple. Do not get bogged down with aalllll the things you can do as that will only overwhelm and paralyse you.

 Let’s do a quick recap. 

In today's video we shared tips on how to find:

1. A venue
2. Students
3. Supplies
4. Age-appropriate, tried-and-tested lessons
5. And a bonus tip to keep things simple and get fancy later

Want more tips and guidance to help you get started with your club? 

Join the waitlist for our CCC Academy!

Click here to sign up: https://www.creativecraftingclub.com/waitlist-a