I liked it so we can get out of the house.”

Gage Peterson on Youth Craft Days

When Kylie Allison found out that the Middletown Community Center was hosting a youth craft program over the summer, she couldn’t wait to tell her friends.
“She started texting all of her friends and telling them all about it,” said Geneva Allison, Kylie’s grandmother.
The program was called Youth Craft Days. For two months, children from Wellsville, Bellflower and Middletown got to do many activities such as making baskets, building bird houses and painting barn quilts.
“It’s the first year we did it,” Geneva said. “We just did it because we wanted the kids to have something to do at least once a week besides looking at their phones.”
The first year of Middletown Youth Craft Days wrapped up on Aug. 17, when five children learned how to make bread and bake cinnamon rolls.
“They have the recipes to go,” said Geneva, who was the coordinator of the Middletown Youth Craft Days. “They can do it at home.”
Kylie Allison, Rachel Davis and siblings Gretchen, Abagail and Gage Petersen were the students on the final day of the program. All of them are students at the Wellsville-Middletown R-I School District.
Youth Craft Days were held for three hours every Tuesday afternoon for any child ages 9 and up. Gage, who is 8, said he enjoyed spending his summer going to the first-year program.
“I liked it so we can get out of the house,” Gage said.
Youth Craft Days began on June 8, when Pat Moore of the Montgomery County Arts Council taught the children how to weave baskets. Also during the summer, Moore taught the students how to paint barn quilts and do some yarn bombing.
“We had everything from making baskets, making a dreamcatcher, doing some twining, painting rocks, making a birdhouse and painting a barn quilt,” Geneva said.
On the final day, the students learned to make bread with yeast, sugar, butter, flour and salt. Davis said she loves to cook.
“I cooked quite a bit of stuff,” the 13-year-old from Martinsburg said. “I baked bread and made cinnamon rolls.”
The Youth Craft Days program was sponsored by the Montgomery County Arts Council, Middletown Baptist Church and Middletown Christian Church.
Kylie Allison, who is 13, said she liked going to Youth Craft Days because she got to learn how to make stuff and spend time with her grandmother.
“It’s fun,” Kylie said. “I liked it. I like doing crafts a lot.”