My kids did not want to paint them, but you can if you think that is something you can manage (it is messy)! We have added a few strings of beads over the past year. You will need to make the base of the dream catcher yourself in advance, and then decorate them with the kids together. This is a relatively easy project that requires a few minutes of set-up. For the full story behind dream catchers, search for “Ojibwe Dream Catchers.” Overnight, the dream catchers filter out the bad dreams, only letting good thoughts through, and when the sun rises all the bad dreams disappear. They originated with the Ojibwe nation in North America and spread across the continent. This way, the kids have power over their own dreams, and doing the project together gives me a chance to talk about them.ĭream catchers have been used to help children with sleep for hundreds of years. And, if they still do have a bad dream and the dream catchers need a little “tune-up,” we can add to them. Not only would the dream catchers hang over the bed, but the kids and I would decorate them together as a fun project.
But it was useful for me as a kid when we made them in school, and I thought it might be useful for my own kids.
Of course I didn’t invent this, it isn’t even from my culture.
