What is a fun, simple craft for kids?

Question

my friend and i watch our siblings (5 kids between ages of 3-10 ) and they like crafts but want a change from coloring, etc. what is a fun but easy craft that doesnt take too long

thank you :)

Answer 1

*Toddler Crafting Macaroni!

Macaroni necklaces, bracelets, anklets. Put straight macaroni in a jar, drop in a few drops of food coloring and shake gently until you get the desired color. You may need to add more food coloring and keep shaking. Make several different colors. Spread on newspaper or papertowels to dry. Put each color into an old butter tub or other plastic container with a lid. Again, provide child with shoestring or yarn with end taped and let her/him make necklaces. This is also a good way to teach sorting and order after a while. In the beginning let him/her string whatever appeals, later you might suggest a pattern.

*Sock Puppets

*Popsicle stick picture frames

*Bean bag toss games (they love this one :-) )

*A Potty Train

Train... as in CHOO CHOO!!! Yes, with this activity you will make a train of items that your toddler will take to the potty, for that special potty training event. You'll need some ribbon, 3 small boxes, construction paper, and some tape. Take construction paper and cover the sides of the boxes. Then cut out some small circles for the wheels and tape/glue them to each box. To connect the boxes together just take a small strip of construction paper and tape it to the inside front of the last box , then tape the other side to the inside back of the box in front. Do the same for the next box. Then for the front box, tape a single long ribbon to the front inside. Next have your toddler pick a favorite small "potty" book, toy, and stickers. Put each item in a box and keep the train nearby for that run to the bathroom. Have your toddler pull the train to the bathroom so that the items are nearby for the event.

Supplies Needed:

- 3 small boxes (sizes will depend on the size of the toy and book you use)

- small book

- small toy

- stickers

- ribbon

- scissors

- tape/glue

- colored construction paper

*Handprint cards

* Easy ART!!

Here's a great activity where your child can have some fun making some artwork, without making too much of a mess. Take a paper plate and soak it in water for a few seconds. Then put it down on a table covered with newspaper and let your toddler draw on the wet plate with some washable markers. She'll see how the colors run, just like watercolors! (The best part is that you don't have to use paint and paintbrushes!)

Supplies Needed-

- paper plates

- washable markers

*Shake and Paint Activity

Take a large empty Oatmeal container and tape a piece of white paper inside. Now take a couple of broken crayons and dip them in some kids paint. They just need to have a little paint on them. Put them inside the container and then put the lid back on. Now let your toddler take the container and shake it, roll it on the floor, kick it or whatever to move the crayons around inside. Then take the lid off and see what the crayons and paint did on the paper!

Supplies Needed-

- large oatmeal container (if you don't have one, you can always use a cereal box too.)

- crayons, broken

- kids paint

- white paper

*MAKE YOUR OWN TAMBOURINE

You will need :

- 2 paper plates

- Stapler

- Beans or rice

- Paint

- Stickers

- Ribbon

Take two paper plates and staple them together putting beans or rice in the middle. Let the child paint or glue or put stickers and ribbon on the outside making their own tambourine.

*Discovery bottles

fill an empty water bottle with objects such as paper clips, dice, small toys, glitter, rice, etc... glue the top on and as they turn it or shake it, new objects will come to the surface and it will make noise. This is a lot of fun!!

*Snow Globes

fill an empty water bottle half with water and half with corn syrup. Add glitter, confetti, beads, paper clips, etc.. glue top on. the corn syrup will make the glitter and objects fall like a snow globe. I LOVE THIS ONE AND SO DO THE CHILDREN!!

*Please check out theideabox.com. This is the most awesome site I have found for crafts. Not only do they give ages and tools required on each kids craft, but also offer a "craft of the day" and the complete archives are available.

*I hope this was helpful to you and that you enjoy doing some of these crafts and activities.

Answer 2

if you have embroidery string, i'm 12, and i love to do this. let them make just pure random nots with several different colors tied together,...it has kind of a tye dye effect

Answer 3

Go to Starfall.com and they have alot of games and craft ideas you can print off.

Answer 4

How about some no bake cookies?  Take one cup each of peanut butter and honey, and mix it with two cups of dry milk powder and simply roll the dough into balls.  You can then roll them in sprinkles or crushed graham crackers or chopped nuts or mini chips.  My grandkids always loved making these when they were little and if they put it in their mouth, it's a good, healthy snack.

Answer 5

Make refridgerator magnets- you can recycle an old magnet from the fridge. Most of them can be cut to reuse. Have the kids make round or star shaped ones to hold their pictures!

You can cut an old picture of the child to put on it or just let them color the magnet.

Stringing beads is always a fun project at our house.

Bake cookies.

Make pencil and pen holders for Mom and Dad. You can cover an old box or can ( careful of sharp edges) with construction paper and design your own!

Make leaf shadows. This one is messy!! Do it outdoors when possible.  Take large pieces of paper and lay a leaf on top of it, use water paint ( make it light with lots of water) and paint the whole piece of paper leaving the leaf in place. Let dry. Remove the leaf and you have a perfect replica of the leaf.

Use a light or good flashlight- Put a large piece of paper on the wall. Have child stand between the light and the wall and you draw the childs profile on the paper while the child stands there making the shadow.

Answer 6

I agree with the construction paper idea but I take it a small step further - empty toilet paper rolls and tissue boxes.  cutting out the shapes from the tissue box and gluing them to the toilet paper rolls or construction paper to make gifts to give is always rewarding for littles ones.  And it's frugal and recycling too.

Answer 7

Try making homemade play dough, email me if you need recipes.

And check out these sites:

http://makingfriends.com/

http://www.ucpcug.org/ScoutingWeb/Progra...

http://www.e-scoutcraft.com/braiding/str...

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:gAzv...

http://www.firemountaingems.com/beading_...

http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/

http://www.auntiesbeads.com/Category.asp...

Have fun this summer.

Answer 8

glue and construction paper...cut it up and let them paste

Answer 9

Paper airplanes.