Is every parent looking for ways to keep their kids busy right now? Yes, yes they are! Arts and crafts allow children to get in touch with their creativity and enjoy hands-on engagement with a project. And, best of all, you can distract the youngsters with colorful things to get a moment to yourself.
While you can absolutely find crafting books and activity books, a great resource to find crafting ideas is actually Instagram. There are plenty of crafty parents sharing their ideas and projects for kids that are oftentimes more entertaining for the little ones than some of the most time-tested crafting projects. We decided to take a deep dive into Insta-craft to find some truly remarkable ideas that children will love and we adults will appreciate. Here are 10 craft ideas for kids that are innovative and hopefully will allow you to enjoy some time to yourself.
UpCycled Cardboard Bugs
Get your kids’ imaginations working overtime with these bugs made from recycled materials. For the base of the bugs, use a cardboard box to cut out shapes for their body. Then, use bubble wrap, popsicle sticks, bottle caps, toothpicks, and whatever else that’s around to finish construction. Make sure there are coloring supplies and google eyes and you’re good to go! These craft bugs are so cute!
Bubble Snakes!
Using a sock, a water bottle, and dish soap you can create a little craft machine that allows your child to blow bubble-snakes. The younger children might have trouble cutting into the water bottle so get them started or complete that portion of the project for them. Kids love snakes and we think they’ll enjoy this craft.
Puffy Paint Time
The instructions are here in the caption for you to follow, but you basically mix food coloring with shaving cream and glue to create “puffy paint.” Sure, your kids have painted with flat paint before, but have they ever had the pleasure of sculpting with it? This fun project can get messy so be sure to try and put some ground rules in place.
‘Sand Art’ Without the Sandy Mess
This excellent instructional video from an educator and librarian teaches you how to recreate the fun of a sand art project with rice used in place of sand. You’ll need rice, food coloring, and vinegar to get this one started. We imagine kids will love the sounds the rice makes as it shakes around in the bottle.
Pistachio Shells & Pumpkin Seeds
For kindergarten-aged children, consider handing them some seeds and shells to decorate and then ask them to use them to make a scene. Here, pumpkin seeds and pistachios have been painted, allowed to dry, and then glued onto an adorable scene.
Paper Plate Dino-Fun
You can never go wrong with a paper plate, are we right? Here, you simply cut paper plates in half and half and ask the kids to paint or color them. Then, allow them to cut out shapes to glue on the plate-bodies to make dinosaurs. A very simple craft here that’s going to be lots of fun for the younger ones.
Tissue Box Monsters
Who knew a tissue box could be so versatile for making crafts. You can have your kids turn the boxes into monsters, using the hole in the top as the mouth. Or, you can get even more creative and have them make a decorative tissue dispenser (better for older kids). Better still, have them turn the boxes into creature feet for them to stomp around in.
Paper Lion Fun
Again, put a paper plate to use as the base for a lion or cat face. Using construction paper, your kids will then cut strips and roll them up to curl. Then, decorate and glue the curled up paper around the face to make a lion, or whatever else might strike their imagination.
Wonderful Wind Socks
Windsocks are another very easy craft that can be made from a paper towel roll as the base. Have your kids glue some decorated ribbon or thin streamers to float in the wind. Depending on your child’s focus this project can be as detailed or quick as they like.
RELATED: 10 Children’s Arts and Crafts You Can Buy on Amazon That Won’t Make a Huge Mess
Cotton Swab Bones
So, a human skeleton might be somewhat scary to start, but you can find anatomy books or printouts of dinosaur skeletons for your children to recreate using construction paper, glue, and cotton swabs. This allows your children to get an idea of what’s underneath and how bodies are composed while allowing them to get creative with the cotton swabs to recreate the skeleton they’re creating.
There you go! 10 excellent craft ideas for kids that don’t require a ton of supplies or much of your time. These crafts are very fun and allow motor skills to be put to the test. Happy crafting!
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