Simple Homemade Crafts for Kids
- Paper crafts make a simple, safe and inexpensive craft activity for kids. Children can use multipurpose or construction paper as a crafting material as well as paper cups and plates, tissue paper, cardboard rolls and paper doilies for an array of craft projects. Provide children with paper plates, markers, safety scissors, a hole punch and string so that kids can make their own paper masks. Once they have decorated masks with markers and cut out holes for the eyes and mouth, instruct the children to punch a hole on both ends of their paper plate masks and then help them adjust and tie both ends of a piece of yarn or string to the punched holes to create a headband that will hold the masks in place. Another idea is to help children make their own stained-glass sun catchers with tissue paper, glue and wooden craft sticks. Help children cut out pieces of different-colored tissue paper and glue them together, forming a square. Glue wooden craft sticks to the front and back of the edges of the tissue paper square, creating a frame. Tape or glue a piece of string onto the back end of the frame to easily hang the sun catchers in a window.
- Let kids get creative with paintbrushes and non-toxic, poster board paint. Purchase pre-stretched, framed canvas or a package of thin canvas boards, and let the children's imagination take flight. Older kids can incorporate glitter, felt cutouts and other small embellishments into artwork with paint or glue. Younger children may enjoy finger painting onto canvas in lieu of using brushes. Select paint colors that complement room decor so that you can proudly display the youngster's artwork on a wall in your home once the masterpieces have dried.
- Encourage children to make functional crafts like musical instruments for hours of additional fun and creativity after craft time has ended. Kids can make simple homemade guitars by stretching five or six rubber bands over an empty box of tissues. Help children make easy paper mache maracas out of newspaper, a thin mache paste made from flour and water, clean yogurt containers and small beans and rice. Attach a small wooden dowel to the bottom of the container using glue, and instruct kids to fill the container 1/3 full with small beans and rice. Help kids cover the container in small strips of newspaper dipped in the paste, making sure to fully cover the top and sides of the container as well as the wooden dowel handle. Kids can paint their maracas once the paper mache has fully dried and then use their homemade music makers during playtime.
- Kids will have hours of fun making simple jewelry crafts with yarn, paint and uncooked pasta. Provide kids with various lengths of string for making bracelets and necklaces. Have the children color uncooked pasta with paint or markers, then instruct them to carefully thread pasta onto the string, being careful to hold both ends of the string upright to keep the pasta on the string until it is ready to be tied. Make sure the kids leave at least 1/2 inch of string slack so that the ends can be tied together to make a necklace, bracelet or ring, if using mini pasta. Good pasta cuts for this project include penne, rigatoni, ziti or any other tube-like cut.
