Crafts

March may be National Craft Month but we love crafting all year round. One thing we don't love though is the mess crafting makes in our already cluttered apartment.

Luckily my family lives in Brooklyn, which just may be the crafting mecca of the world (or at least New York City). There are a slew of craft studios where kids can paint pottery, work with wood, try fiber arts like knitting and sewing, or make something more offbeat (robot trash can anyone?)—and best of all, someone else cleans up after them. Although some spots require that you sign up for an entire semester of classes, many offer drop-in options for occasional crafters, summer camps, school break programs and even birthday party packages. Here are our top 12 Brooklyn craft studios where kids can get creative.

Beading is a really fun craft activity for kids of all ages, grown ups too. In fact, it can be a great moms night out. Basic beading doesn't require any skill, but still gets your creative juices flowing as you piece together your own creation from a selection of beads.

Last week we wrote about doing a beading party at home. Whether you want to do a party, or just go out for a few hours of fun, there are several great places for beading in New York City.

You don't have to go over the top with a birthday party to make it out of this world fun for kids. A simple, inexpensive at-home birthday party can be thrown together last minute by picking up some craft supplies and baking a cake. My daughter still calls her Tie-Dye Birthday Party the best one ever and all I did to prepare was run the local hardware store for some RIT Dye and rubber bands. Actually the hardest thing to find was the plain white T-Shirts (who sells Hanes in Manhattan any more?)

This Fall we did an at home beading party for my daughter and I found this to be one of the most fun, versatile, inexpensive and easy to organize birthday party ideas we have ever done. A beading birthday party is a great idea for girls from preschool age to teens and it's a great idea for NYC kids because it's easy to do even in a small apartment and in New York we have easy access to all the wholesale beading stores where you can pick up all kinds of fun beads.

We realize Valentine's Day is a romantic holiday aimed at adults (although we suspect your kids will be happy to help you polish off all of those chocolates). But if you'd like to celebrate with your children too, there are lots of ways to share the love this holiday.

We've rounded up 14 Valentine's Day events for New York City kids. Most skew young and are pretty sweet deals. A few are even free. So get ready to sing, dance and get creative with your little loves in honor of Valentine's Day 2012.