Craft activities can be highly beneficial for adults with learning disabilities for several reasons:

1. Enhances Fine Motor Skills: Engaging in crafts like making ladybirds helps improve hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills through activities like cutting, gluing, and painting.
2. Promotes Creativity and Self-Expression: Crafting allows individuals to express themselves creatively, which can be particularly rewarding and therapeutic.
3. Boosts Self-Esteem: Completing a craft project provides a sense of accomplishment and can significantly boost self-esteem and confidence.
4. Encourages Social Interaction: Craft sessions often take place in group settings, promoting social interaction and teamwork, which are essential for building social skills.
5. Reduces Stress and Anxiety: Crafting can be a relaxing and enjoyable activity that helps reduce stress and anxiety, providing a positive focus and distraction from everyday challenges.
6. Enhances Cognitive Function: Following instructions and planning a project can improve cognitive abilities, such as problem-solving, concentration, and memory.

Today’s activity of crafting ladybirds would have offered all these benefits, combining creativity, skill-building, and social interaction in a fun and engaging way. Thank you Cheryl Smith & Zoe Dummett for a great afternoon. Check out our designs below.

At yesterday’s crafts session our members made bracelets with Cheryl Smith & Zoe Dummett. Craft sessions are great for learning new skills, making friends, and improving wellbeing. Completing a craft gives a great sense of achievement, boosting self-esteem and confidence!

We had a full house for our craft session on Tuesday when our members and volunteers made beautiful suncatchers. Check out their work below. Thank you to Jess, Zoe, and Cheryl, for running this session and for our lovely brisk walk to end off a great day.

At yesterday’s crafts session our members made braided fabric keychains and bracelets. They plaited their favourite colours and attached them to keychains. Some members also made name bracelets out of beads and elastic. Everyone enjoyed the activities and catching up with friends, sharing their bank holiday memories over a cuppa. Thank you to Cheryl & Zoe for volunteering to facilitate the session.

We don’t have craft next Tuesday afternoon, but we will be going out for a local walk. If you would like to join us, we will be leaving Bargoed YMCA at 12:30pm.

Craft sessions are a great way to tackle isolation and loneliness, develop skills, make friends, improve self-esteem, and develop motor skills. Thanks to Cheryl Smith & Zoe Dummett for facilitating yesterday’s sessions, when the members made friendship bracelets.

Yesterday our members made Easter-themed masks in preparation for the Parent Network Community Forum’s Planet event. Thank you to Cheryl for facilitating today’s group and to Amy and Tina for assisting.

We don’t have a craft session next Tuesday afternoon, but we’ll be going for a lovely Spring walk instead! Our members will be meeting at 12.30 outside Bargoed YMCA if you would like to join us!

Yesterday, to celebrate St. David’s Day, our members made personalised Welsh-themed canvas wall art with Cheryl Smith from the Parent Network Community Forum. The group printed off pictures of Welsh dragons, daffodils, and leeks, and applied the prints and scrabble letters onto the canvas, creating some great pictures to hang on the wall at home.