Creating art with your kids can be a great way to bond and make lasting memories. Kids love crafts, and I'm sure your kids will love these crazy craft ideas. Keep reading to discover crafts for kids of all ages. The next time you're stuck inside on a rainy day, or your kids are complaining about being bored, have them make some Playdough or a Minion bowling set.
Who knows, maybe you'll even rediscover your own inner child.
Wax Resist Art
All you need to make this super cool spider web is some watercolor paper, white crayons or oil pastels, watercolor paint, and some salt.
Draw any design you'd like on your watercolor paper with the white crayon or pastel. We think this spider web design works particularly well, but you can draw whatever you want. Then paint over your design with watercolor paint. You can sprinkle some salt over your creation when you're done. The salt will absorb the water and create a cool speckled effect.
A Found Object Mobile
This is a super fun craft project to do with young kids while you're on a beach vacation. Your kids can collect shells, stones, and driftwood from the beach.
When you get home, you can have your kids paint their found objects, and then you can help them string all of the shells together into this fun mobile.
A Stone Cactus That You'll Never Have To Water
Not only is this stone cactus super easy to make, it will also look great in your kid's room. Just have your kid collect some cool looking rocks. Paint the rocks with some green acrylic paint, and then add some white "spines" with a white paint pen or permanent marker.
Arrange the painted stones in a planter (add some unpainted rocks for support underneath) and you've got yourself the lowest maintenance cactus around.
Sometimes Making Playdough Is More Fun Than Playing With It
You can make your own kid-friendly Playdough at home by mixing 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar, and 2 cups of warm water.
Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large saucepan. Add the water and the vegetable oil while you cook the whole mixture over low heat. Stir until it looks like Playdough, let it cool, and then add some food coloring.
A Craft For Thanksgiving
Who doesn't love a season-specific craft? If you're already baking some delicious fall cupcakes, you can turn those pretty cupcake liners into an adorable turkey.
All you need is some paper plates, foam, googly eyes, glue, and festive cupcake liners. This is a nice alternative to the classic handprint turkey.
A Handprint Tree
Speaking of handprints, why not try turning a handprint into an autumn tree? Let your kids add some leaf stickers for even more autumn fun.
You can adapt this design to fit any season. Make a snowy tree in the winter and a leafy tree in the summer.
This Cloud Dough Recipe Is Heavenly
If you've never touched cloud dough, you need to make this craft immediately. Basically, you will need 4 cups of flour, 1 cup of baby oil, and glitter if you're feeling fancy.
Mix everything together in a large bowl until it looks like sand. The dough will hold its shape so you can make "sandcastles" out of it. Also, it's super fun to squish.
This Sensory Board For Toddlers
Little kids love feeling different textures and materials. A board like this could keep a one-year-old busy for hours.
If your toddler had older siblings, make this board with your older kids. They'll love being involved in the project. Maybe they'll even have some more ideas about objects you could add.
Color In An Adult Coloring Book With Your Kids
So, this may not be the most therapeutic way to enjoy your adult coloring book, but it is a way for you and your kid to enjoy some quality time together.
This little girl and her mom did a pretty good job coloring in this page. Challange your kids to color inside the lines (or go crazy and color wherever you want).
Colored Paper Fir Trees
All you'll need for this project is a piece of cardboard for the base of the tree, a wooden stick, colored ribbons or strips of paper – mostly green and white, and some white glue.
Cut the cardboard into triangles and have your kids arrange the paper stripes along the cardboard in a cool pattern. Glue down the trips, trim the edges, add a wooden stick, and you've got yourself a paper fir tree. This craft is perfect for the Christmas season.
Minion Bowling
This DIY Minion bowling set is fun to make and fun to play with. You'll just need a few empty Lays chip containers (get snacking), some paper, and some glue.
Use construction paper to give the Minion pins their signature yellow bodies and white eyeballs. Grab a little ball and get rolling!
Colorful Branch Weaving
The next time you go on a nature walk with your kids, have them look for a fallen branch that's shaped like a "v' or a "y."
Wrap some yarn horizontally between the two arms of the "v" shape. Then take some colored yarn and weave it vertically through the horizontal strings. You can use a blunt needle to make this easier.
Making Sun Prints
Making sun prints is a perfect summer outdoor activity. Bonus: it's completely mess-free. You'll just need some Sunography fabric or Sunography paper.
Place whatever objects strike your fancy on the fabric, and let it sit out in the sun. At the end of the day, you'll have some designs that are all your own.
A Lovely Bird Feeder
This Cheerio bird feeder is inexpensive and easy to make. Basically, you just need to string some plain Cheerios onto a few pipe cleaners. Bend the pipe cleaners into interlocking heart shapes, and then hang them on a tree in your backyard.
You kids will love to watch birds, squirrels, and critters of all sorts scramble to enjoy their creations.
Teach Your Kids To Floss With This Playdough Activity
You can use a Megablock, some Playdough (homemade or store bought) and some dental floss to teach your kids basic oral hygiene.
Stick some play dough in between the "teeth" of the Megablock, and show your kids how to extract it using floss.
Baby's First Sensory Play
Sensory play is basically any activity that stimulates your baby's senses. For this activity, all you need to do is fill a ziplock bag with paint and give it to your child to explore.
You might want to secure the end of the ziplock bag with some heavy duty tape, just in case.
Footprint Stepping Stones
Mix half a cup of salt, half a cup of flour, and a quarter cup of water into a smooth dough. form it into a pancake shape, and then help your kids press their hands or feet into the dough to make an impression.
Bake the stone at 200 degrees for 3 hours. You can also do this activity with plaster instead of the flour dough. Make one of these every year, and then arrange them in your yard or garden to create a stepping stone path.
This One Is For The Real Artists
If you are particularly talented in the art department, if you know your way around a box of colored pencils, have your kids make you a coloring book.
The results can be surprisingly stunning. You could also have your kids color in pencil sketches that you've drawn.
This Kid Knows What's Up
This is more of a school activity, but I thought I'd include it in this list because it's just so funny.
This kid knows the truth. Frankie is definitely wise beyond his years. I bet this kid is going to be president one day.
Well, That's Awkward
I actually love this "turkey not turkey" so much. This is the kind of kid creativity that inspires me to think outside of the box.
A turkey turned gumball machine is actually brilliant. I especially like the use of the pom-poms. Challange your kids to create something weird and wacky the next time they're working on a craft.
