Suggestions for Easy Crafts

Question

I am helping out with summer camps and am looking for simple crafts. With the kids in this camp they are simply entertained by making a necklace or bracelet out of string and beads for an hour. They like crafts that take very little effort to make it look nice (if that makes sense) and using very basic materials. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Make papier mache' beads.  Coat a straw or coffee stirrer with some petroleum jelly and then they can glob or wrap papier mache' on it.  When dry, (maybe an hour or so after applying it) the beads can be painted and then they will slip right off.

For more advanced kids, you can try to have some make a native American weather station:

Take three twigs and tie them at one end so that they can be stood up, like a tripod.

Tie a small stone with a string and suspend it from the top of the tripod.  Make sure there is enough string so that the stone can swing without hitting the ground.

This is how it works.  Set it up outside so that it can be seen from a window, door, or tent flap.  In the morning, look out at it.  If the stone is wet, it is raining.  If the stone is dry, it is not raining.  If the stone is swinging back and forth, it is windy.  If it cannot be seen, it is foggy.

Answer 2

There are a bunch of Craft Ideas and directions here:

Craft Kits - http://www.craft-kits.net/craft-projects...

Other ideas are to make pet treats

Dog Treat Recipes - http://www.dog-pound.net/other-dog-treat...

Or if you are into organic these are directions for organic recipes that could be a great craft.

Organic Recipes - http://www.organic-items.com/organic-dir...

Have fun!

HTH

Answer 3

Photo holder -

* Block or other shape of wood (maybe 3" or 4" tall), something that will stand up ok. You can use more than one piece if you want to do something with a base.

* Clothespin, mini is best

* Some sort of beads or baubles

* Glue (wood or white)

- Glue bauble to clothespin, let dry.

- Glue clothespin (not side with bauble), clip side up, to block of wood, near top.

- Let glue dry.

- Take photos of the kids and stick them in the clothespin. Or have them draw small pictures. Voila!

You can paint the blocks and clothespin, or glue beads all over them. Ladybugs and similar wood beads are cute for camp. It's a really easy craft we did in cub scouts with a bunch of all thumbs little boys, after they sawed the wood blocks. = )

Collections-

- Have the kids go on a treasure hunt and collect easy to find items, like big leaf, small leaf, twig, pebbles, other things you've hidden nearby (jewels, beads, pennies, etc). You can give them a list if they can read or pair them up with a reader.

- When they're done, have them glue their treasure collections to a piece of cardboard or poster board.

The kids actually really enjoyed this a lot. We did this instead of a traditional easter egg hunt in scouts because we used a public park. They exchanged their collections for easter treats.

Not really a craft, but if you have time and nothing to do-

Paint with water -

Big paint brushes (like for painting a house), pails and water. Have the kids "paint" everything with water. This works best with the little ones, but some older kids actually like it too.