There’s been a huge boom in at-home crafting over the last year, as people turn to nostalgic creative pursuits to ward off pandemic boredom. In an effort to help those who are learning these new art skills remotely, Michaels is now offering free digital crafting classes across April and May.
Most of these online classes are an hour long, making them easy to slot into your afternoon. They also give you the rare opportunity to follow along with live lessons delivered by an expert tutor, so you get to replicate the feeling of an in-person class. And as lessons are being conducted via Zoom, you should be able to fire out questions if you get stuck.
There’s a big mix of topics available, with tutors covering everything from paint pouring techniques to jewelry-crafting skills and modern crochet methods. Bear in mind that most of the classes do require you to have some equipment to hand, though – for example, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got your best die-cutting machine primed and ready before you start that Cricut class.
Lessons are divided between those that are aimed at adults and a few that have been created with children in mind. The latter focus on fun and easy crafts, like building a bouquet out of Lego, making a terrarium or crafting with pompoms. The adult lessons are mostly focused on hobbies that have seen a return to popularity, according to Michaels, with plenty of knitting, painting, beading and tie-dyeing classes available.
Arts, crafts and digital learning: A rising trend
The last year has seen a big rise in the number of people taking up new skills and hobbies, along with a pivot to digital learning.
As schools turned into online spaces, people began searching for the best online tutoring services to help their children’s education. However, crafting classes and gentler pastimes weren’t as easy to find online, so these digital sessions provide a different type of experience.
It’s not just kids who have taken up online classes, either, as there’s been an increase in adults searching for digital lessons over the past year. Language-learning in particular rocketed in popularity, according to Duolingo, with people searching for things like the best learn Spanish online courses to help them brush up on forgotten linguistic skills.
Available classes
There are a broad range of free crafting classes available at Michaels, but here are a few of our favorites...
- National Online Class: Five Fabulous Paint Pour Techniques (April 9, 3pm CT)
- National Online Class: Cricut 101: Getting Started (Various dates)
- National Online Class: Create Ocean Jewelry with Resin (April 15, 3pm CT)
- National Online Class: Introduction to Crochet Lace (May 24, 3pm CT)
