Designing Kid-Friendly Crafts Based on Every State

One of my Creative Resolutions for 2019 was to design at least two crafts for each of the 50 states. In retrospect, that goal was ridiculously ambitious. By the end of the year, I had at least two crafts for only 28 states, one craft for 19 states, and 3 states with no craft at all. In fact, it took me until March 2021 before I finally met the goal of having at least two kid-friendly crafts for each of the 50 states. 

I've continued to add to my collection of state-themed crafts, but not in any sort of organized or goal-oriented way. Then randomly, in December 2023, I decided that one of my 2024 goals should be to bring the total number of kid-friendly crafts for each state up to at least four. It's crazy, but it didn't occur to me to check to see how many crafts each state had before setting that goal, leaving me with no idea whether or not it was reasonable. Not only that, it took me until now to actually find out how many crafts I'd need to design in the next eight months in order to meet the goal. 

Fortunately, when I made a chart, I discovered I only need 11 crafts to meet my goal. There are 7 states that need one craft each and 2 states that need two each.  

Of course, there's a reason I've managed to create 10 or more crafts for ten of the states. For states like Hawaii, there are so many things that make you think of the state: volcanos, pineapple, sand castles, ukuleles, sharks, and tropical fish, just to name a few. Can you name six things that instantly bring Missouri to mind? I can't, despite thoroughly enjoying our time in the Show-Me State.   

"But Cindy," you might be saying. "You have nine crafts for Ohio, which is certainly not 4.5 times as distinctive as Missouri. There must be another factor." To which I say, you are correct. Ohio has done a great job choosing craft-friendly state symbols. Between their state bird (cardinal) and their state insect (ladybug), I have five crafts. Same with Minnesota. Their state fruit (apple) and their state insect (monarch butterfly) account for seven of their eight crafts. 

On Friday, I wrote about which states have craft-friendly state flags. With the exception of California, I haven't done a lot of crafts featuring state flags, so that's an untapped source for inspiration. Let's see how many of the states I need have craft-friendly flags. 

Unfortunately, only Rhode Island has a good flag for crafting. Three states in my "needs crafts" section have acceptable flags for crafting, and five have terrible flags for inspiring kids crafts. 

In addition to state flags, I have a bunch of other ideas for state-themed crafts. While my primary goal will be to boost the nine states without at least four crafts, I'll be working on crafts for other states too. Eventually, I'd like teachers or homeschool parents to be able to go to any of my state pages and find a wide variety of inspiration for crafts based on their home state to do with their students.