Crafts are a fun and diverting activity for kids of all ages. Even young children can enjoy certain crafts, and older school-age children will have fun making crafts they can use or display later.
The following are a number of crafts for kids of all ages.
Pre school crafts
With pre-school aged children, it will be important to supervise. Don’t use very small items they could put in their mouths and choke on, like tiny buttons. Also, make sure you do the cutting yourself and don’t keep scissors lying around.
Some fun crafts for preschool children include the following:
Butterfly Masks:
Picture or drawing (big enough to cover a child’s face) of a butterfly
Four pipe cleaners for each mask (two to secure it on the face and two for antennas)
Markers and crayons to decorate masks
Scissors
Cardboard, such as from a cereal box
Glue
Directions
1. Have kids decorate the butterfly with crayons, markers, glitter, or other craft materials.
2. Glue the decorated masks to the cardboard and allow them to dry.
3. Cut out the shape of the butterfly.
4. Make eye holes for the child to see, then punch holes in the side of the mask (for the strap) and top (for antennas).
5. Feed the pipe cleaners through the holes to hold the mask on the child’s face.
Turtle Tambourine
Two paper plates, one for each tambourine
Beans, lentils, rice, or macaroni
Stapler
Green construction paper
Markers
Scissors
Directions
1. Cut turtle leg shapes and a head shape (include the neck) from the green construction paper.
2. Have kids decorate the bottom side of each paper plate, which will be the shell of the turtle.
3. Place the paper plates together, decorated sides out, to form the tambourine.
4. Staple the plates together, inserting legs and making sure the staples are close enough together so beans will not spill out. Leave the neck and head area unstapled.
5. Place a handful of beans or lentils into the turtle body, then insert the neck and head and staple closed.
Grade school children
Children in grade school are more likely to enjoy making crafts that are functional in some way. The following are crafts suitable for children in grade school.
Book covers
Brown paper bags
Scissors
Crayons and markers
Trading cards, comics, or pictures cut out from magazines
Glue or tape
Clear self-adhesive paper
Directions
1. Cut the bags so they are long, flat sheets of paper. Match the height of the paper to the height of the book by making folds of equal width along the edges.
2. Lay the sheet out with the folded edges up.
3. Place book on the paper, right-side up approximately 5 inches from the right side of the sheet. Fold the left side of the sheet up over the book, then trim the ends to about 5 inches.
4. Tuck the two ends inside the front and back covers of the book, and secure them by putting the book’s covers into the folds.
5. Have the children decorate the cover. This is a good time to be creative with markers, crayons, comics, trading cards, or pictures cut from magazines.
6. Secure the pictures by covering them with the clear contact paper.
There are many different crafts you can do with kids of all ages.