Kids are filled with creativity, imagination, and curiosity, which they like to express by exploring around them and getting their hands dirty. While these qualities should be encouraged, parents and guardians should find productive and enjoyable ways for their children to express their creativity and imagination and quench their curiosity. This is where arts and crafts come.

Dabbling in arts and crafts is a fun, productive, and educational way to unleash one’s imagination. It’s perfect for children because it fulfills their desire to try things on their own, to work with all kinds of fun materials, and to be rewarded by the result of their effort. Moreover, this hobby gives them the opportunity to learn and practice life values, like patience, perseverance, and hard work.

Spend time with your kids, and help them find constructive ways to make use of their energy and time. Try these easy craft projects with your kids at home.

Card Making

Handmade cards will never go out of style. They don’t cost much to make, but they show the sincerity of the giver to the receiver. Teach your kids how to make greeting and all kinds of cards for birthdays, holidays, and special occasions.

Card making only requires simple materials. You and your kids can use construction papers, or cardstock for a thicker card, and a variety of coloring and decorative materials, like crayons, markers, glitters, and such.

It never gets boring too because there are so many card styles to try. You and your kids can make plain cards, pop-up cards, embossed cards, or uniquely shaped cards. After making the cards, you should also teach your kids how to write a sincere message, then you can enclose the cards in envelopes and give these to their intended receivers.

DIY Pencil Organizer

Don’t throw away plastic bottles or tin cans after the content runs out. You can use them to create DIY pencil organizers with your kids. This can be a challenging project depending on the materials you will use and the intricacy of the design.

For this project, you need clean plastic bottles or tin cans. Your can cut the plastic bottle to create a wider opening. You let your kids do this part if they’re already used to handling scissors, but remind them to be careful, nonetheless.

If you’re using tin cans, thoroughly check if there are protruding parts that can injure you or your kids. Hammer the protruding parts flat, or just use plastic bottles.The cut bottles or cans should be tall enough to contain unsharpened pencils and support their weight.

Once the hard part is done, you and your kids can have fun decorating your DIY pencil organizers. You can use colored papers or paint to cover the bottles or cans and make all kinds of shapes and drawings to make them attractive. You can also use stickers, yarns, beads, and other embellishments to decorate the pencil organizers.

Handmade Bedroom Door Signs

Instead of buying premade signs for the children’s rooms, why not let the kids make the signs themselves? Prepare the basic materials, including cardboard paper or cardstock, yarn or string, and markers.

You can help your kids cut out their favorite shapes. Don’t just stick to common shapes, like rectangle or square. Let them unleash their imagination.

They can make signs shaped like their favorite animal, superhero, flowers, and whatnot. After the cardboard or cardstock is cut to the shape they want, they can then write their name on it and start decorating.

You help them tie the string later and hang the handmade signs on the door of their rooms.

Holiday Decorations

The holidays are coming up, and that’s the perfect time to make your own holiday decorations with your kids. You can create holiday wreaths, hanging ornaments, and silk flower arrangements using your favorite craft supplies. You can make simple or elaborate decorations, depending on the kids’ skill level.

Start with simple hanging ornaments first. Use clear glass balls to create Halloween and Christmas decors. You can paint them to look like a carved pumpkin; create scary characters using yarn, cut-out paper, and stickers; and fill them with glitters, laces, pretty strings, and embellishments.

You can make something more complicated, like a wreath, when you’re sure your kids are ready for it. There are premade wreaths, which you can decorate together, but you can also make one out of scratch, using wires, evergreen boughs, hot glues, raffia, and ribbons. Some of the materials you will use can injure your kids, so make sure to watch them closely, and don’t let them handle dangerous materials.

Homemade Slime

Most kids love weird and slightly gross things. It’s probably why they’re so obsessed with slime. Teach them how to make their own slime to play with. You can create different kinds of slime—liquid starch slime, saline solution slime, fluffy slime, and slime with borax.

Stick to the recipe when making slime to avoid adverse reaction or failure. Do a patch test too in case one of the kids is allergic to any of the ingredients you will use. For a safe slime recipe for kids, you can use glue, baking soda, and contact lens saline solution. There are safe items you can add, like washable paint, glitter, gemstones, and beads.

Origami (Paper Folding)

Origami is the art of using paper and folding techniques to create various shapes, like flowers, animals, and objects. It only needs colorful origami papers, which come in many sizes, and a set of instructions to form the shapes you want.

You can try this with your kids when you want to pass the time or just want to try a new project without preparing much. You don’t really need origami papers for this. You can use all kinds of paper, but colorful papers will look more attractive.

The internet has a lot of patterns and diagrams you can follow or print out. You can also watch instructional videos with your kids and try out all kinds of origami shapes.

Do you know? The Japanese have a well-known legend regarding origami cranes. It says that whoever folds 1,000 paper cranes in one year will have their wish granted by the gods. This tradition was perpetuated by the story of a little girl named Sadako Sasaki.

Sadako contracted leukemia after being exposed to atomic radiation from the bombing of Hiroshima in the Second World War. Little Sadako would fold paper cranes while she stayed in the hospital in hopes of having her wish fulfilled.

Sock Puppets

Old socks still have their use. You can use them to make sock puppets with your kids and add visuals and excitement to story time. Sock puppets can be easy or difficult to make, depending on your character design.

To make sock puppets, you need socks (of course), preferably ones that no one wears anymore; buttons or googly eyes; fabric glue or sewing kit; yarn; and felt.

The first step is to create character designs for the puppets as a guide. Following the design, cut the felt into shapes for the features (e.g., mouth, nose, and ears) of the puppet. On the sock, mark the placement of the features. You can glue or stitch the felt pieces on the puppet.

Stick or sew the yarn on the top of the head for the hair. Have your kids use a thimble so they don’t prick their fingers with the needle.

T-Shirt Stamping

T-shirt stamping is best done with your kids outdoors because of the potential mess you will create. For the materials, you need a plain white shirt, colorful fabric dye, and rubber stamps in different designs.

As mentioned, this activity is best done outdoors on the patio, at your backyard, or in the garage. You should cover the table, the floor, or your workstation with old newspapers or a mat to avoid making too much of a mess.

Once your work area is ready, you can make initial designs on paper to make something presentable and wearable. Then pour the fabric dyes in different containers, prepare the rubber stamps, and get stamping! Let the shirts dry under the sun, or leave them to air-dry.

You can show off your work together on your next family outing or do a fun fashion shoot with your kids.

Final Word

Nowadays, parents and guardians are worried about their children spending too much time on technology and gradually detaching from reality. Arts and crafts help them engage in reality because they have to use their own hands to create something tangible out of the materials given to them. They don’t have shortcuts or cheat codes. They have to go through the process step-by-step.

As parents and guardians, it’s part of your duty to engage your kids in productive activities. Some young kids don’t like doing things by themselves. But if you create arts and craft projects with them, they will be more willing to try.