Easy Arts & Crafts Activities for Kids
When it's a quiet, crafty sort of day, spread out at the kitchen table. The simplicity of some basic art supplies—paper, tape, crayons, glue, chalk—will lead your kids where they will!
- Create sun prints! Construction paper fades quickly in the sun, so place random items on top of the paper, and leave outdoors on a table or on the ground. Wait several hours while the paper fades wherever it's not covered.
- Draw with chalk! Kids can express themselves and leave their mark—and it gets cleaned up and washed away by the next rain. You can even make your own chalk by mixing one cup of Plaster of Paris with 1/2 cup of water! For colorful chalk, add a spoonful or two of tempura paint. Pour into an egg carton or into a toilet paper tube (but tape up one end) and let dry overnight.
- Make a collage! Pull out paper, glue and magazines. Craft a collage card or collage story about someone you know.
- Make rubbings! Grab a handful of crayons and some paper and make rubbings of leaves, sidewalks, tree bark and pretty much anything else outdoors.
- Build models of houses or whole towns out of paper! Cut and fold different thicknesses of paper and cardboard, and use tape to hold everything in place.
- Decorate keepsake boxes! Gather old tissue boxes and cover them with wrapping paper, tissue paper, or pictures from newspapers or magazines.
- Make a paper tree! Lay out large pieces of newspaper and start rolling them tightly together. When the roll is nearly done, add in another piece of newspaper, and keep going for about four or five pieces. Put a piece of tape around the bottom and middle of the roll. Cut fringes into the top, and then reach in and start pulling the newspaper roll up—and watch it grow. A fabulous prop for all sorts of imagination games.
- Make a magic wand! Find a good stick and cover it in fabric. Or for a ribbon twirler, tie a long and brightly colored ribbon to the end of the stick, and cover the connection with strong tape to make it secure.
Provided byMiriam Peskowitz
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