Craft Activities for Kids

In this article we will be talking about craft activities for kids. You do not need to be an artist or “crafty” in order to do crafts with your children. All you need is a few resources and 10/15 minutes of time.

Here are some top benefits of crafts activities for kids:

• Craft activities for kids gives you the opportunity to bond with your child
• Keeps your child away from the screen
• Craft activities for kids helps to develop critical skills for school and life.
• Crafts help to build fine motor skills
• Craft for kids helps to build planning and problem-solving skills.
• Craft activities for kids helps with social-emotional learning

Parents are always on the lookout for craft for kids to do, especially at weekends or during the school summer holidays. Sometimes the weather means that a day indoors full of crafts for kids is exactly what is needed. This  handy list of craft ideas are the perfect indoor activities for kids. And sure to save any long wet weekend.

So First of All Supplies

These are some useful and fairly easy supplies for your crafty activities:

• Paper plates
• Toilet paper or paper towel rolls
• Coloured paper
• Plain
• Wooden lolly sticks
• Glue
• Tape
• Scissors
• Paint, crayons or felt tips

Optional extras:

• Googly eyes
• Assorted pom poms
• Tissue paper squares
• Pipe cleaners

Toilet Paper Roll Puppets

Toilet paper rolls are so readily available and they make great puppets! You could make a set of superheroes with them, monsters, animals (like butterflies or dogs) families with them by sticking different coloured wool for hair, googly eyes (or draw them on) pipe cleaners for arms, and coloured paper stuck on or tissue paper squares for clothes. There are so many options.

Once you have created your cardboard toilet roll puppets you could make a puppet show, or play with them, act out a scene from your favourite TV program. Toni Tots drama, in Birmingham is a great class listed on the Club Hub directory. In Toni’s classes they often make puppets like these and then incorporate them in her class! So much fun!

Homemade Cards

Homemade Cards are really fun to make. It’s a great hands on, simple craft activity for kids. Also, receiving a handmade card means so much more than a shop bought one. It requires so much more effort and you can personalise it just as you wish.

You could try decoupage, sticking cardboard shapes on top of each other to make a layered effect, tissue paper/or coloured ripped paper.

Create a Rainbow

There’s something very rewarding about creating a rainbow regardless of your age. You could set up some paints for your child all of the colours of the rainbow, you could encourage them to mix primary colours to create secondary colours or you could encourage them to rip up coloured paper or tissue paper and glue them on to the paper. You can adjust the activity depending on the age.

Create a Sensory, Glitter Bottle

Sensory bottles are containers that typically include water, clear glue, glitter and any fun materials you’d like, designed to provide a child with non-messy, sensory play and stimulation.

They are fantastic craft activities for kids. Children love to shake them up and watch the objects and glitter float around as it settles to the bottom. Sensory bottles can be a really calming experience for your little one. They’re great for all ages.  Especially any child who loves visually stimulating objects. The great thing is you can make them yourself at home with relatively cheap materials mostly with things you already have in.

Method:

• Step 1: Fill the empty water bottle half way with warm water.
• Step 2: Fill the remainder with clear glue. Don’t use white glue for sensory bottles because you want to be able to see through it.
• Step 3: Squeeze in a drop of food colouring to make the bottle whatever color you wish. GO LIGHT on the food colouring! You can always add more, but you can’t take it away.
• Step 4: Add some glitter and all of the fun little items. Make sure any items you use are lightweight so that they float well.
• Step 5: Mix it all up and watch!
• Step 6: Glue the lid shut.

Craft Activities for Kids – Junk modelling

The beauty of junk modelling – making things with recycled materials to make things with – is that the materials are essentially junk and so children can be as creative as they want. They can’t ruin it.

The flexibility of using Junk to model and the fact we all have so much ‘junk’ gives children enormous learning benefits and  creative opportunities. Recycling toilet rolls and egg boxes is a cheap, fun way to do some easy craft for kids.

Here are some simple junk modelling ideas:

• Egg box ladybirds, flowers
• Paper plate owl, snail, fish
• Crafty collage
• Bottle top characters (using markers and googly eyes)
• Bottle top pictures
• Cardboard box vehicles
• Cardboard box houses

Craft Activities for Kids – Land Art Pictures

Land art is a fun activity to do in nature, its free and is a perfect learning and development opportunity for early years too!

Land art involves creating art on the Earth. Use sticks, stones, leaves, mud and more to create fabulous pictures with your little ones. Why not try creating a picture of your favourite animal from sticks and leaves?

You could make this into a maths learning opportunity by taking a tally of all the different things you have found. Grouping them, adding them up and more. Or maybe you may want to encourage your child to find out more about the items them have picked from a scientific point of view.

If you enjoy making nature/land art Nature Makers can be found on our directory and many other clubs and classes which incorporates nature with art.

Craft Activities for Kids – Give them Chance to get Crafty!

Sometimes instead of giving your child a specific craft activity just let them have free regin and see what they produce. Giving your child that creativity and freedom can be really empowering for them. Provide them with various materials, take a step back and see what they come up with

Craft activities for kids are lovely to do with children. Although if you prefer, why not take a look at our directory where we have plenty of craft for kids clubs if craft at home is not for you.

Club Hub UK has the largest selection of kids clubs, classes and activities in the Arts and Crafts area. Take a look at our other blog which lists the best arts and Craft classes for kids in the UK. If you see a kids club, class or activity in Arts and Crafts that is missing from our list, tell the owner to add their listing. Please use our search engine to find your local kids activity.