10 Fun Craft Time Ideas for Kids to Enjoy

Craft time can make days at home with your kids much easier. It keeps them entertained and directs their energy toward something constructive.

Creative activities can also help with your child’s mental and physical development. It encourages problem solving, spatial awareness, verbal skills, and hand-eye coordination. Having easy craft ideas ready to go means you can get creative with no notice.

Check out these craft ideas for kids to keep craft time more interesting.

Homemade Instruments

Homemade instruments offer a double dose of fun for your kids. You get to make the instruments first, which takes some time and encourages creativity. Then, your kids can play the instruments to create music.

Drums made of oatmeal containers or similar options are simple. Paint or cover the container with paper and decorations, and have fun drumming out different rhythms. 

Old plastic Easter eggs, yogurt containers with lids, or other containers work well for maracas. Add dried beans, or test out different small items to make sound inside the container.

Let your kids play the instruments how they want, or have them repeat certain patterns. Music education can have an impact on your child’s development. Benefits of music for kids include remembering verbal information better, improving math skills, and improving English skills.

 Shaving Cream Art

Shaving cream is a fun sensory experience for kids of all ages. You can easily turn it into artwork with a little paint or food coloring.

Start by squirting shaving cream onto a baking sheet or other large, flat surface. Drop food coloring or paint onto the shaving cream.

Let your kids swirl the colors around with their fingers or a craft stick. This part can also be a science experiment for mixing different colors together. 

Before all of the colors get swirled and make a gray or brown color, grab some plain white paper. Place it directly on top of the colored shaving cream.

Pick up the paper. Use a craft stick or other large straight edge item to wipe the excess shaving cream off of the paper. The color stays behind on the paper and creates pretty designs.

After you let the paper dry a little, you can use it for other craft projects. Cut it up and make a collage or use it for any other paper crafts.

Coloring Pages

One of the easiest craft ideas for kids is to print off coloring pages of their favorite things. Print princess, superhero, or dinosaur coloring pages depending on your little one’s latest obsessions. Keep the coloring pages handy in a folder or binder for a quick, creative activity.

Along with the coloring pages, grab a variety of coloring utensils and crafting materials that your kids can use to decorate the sheets. Finger paints, markers, colored pencils, crayons, and watercolor paints are good options. Add in sequins, glitter glue, stickers, feathers, and other age-appropriate crafting supplies to add dimension to the coloring pages.

Nature Art

When the weather is nice, head outdoors to collect natural art supplies. One simple option is to pick up nature items you see on the ground, such as seeds, leaves, and twigs. When you get home, create a collage out of them by gluing them to paper or cardboard.

Another option is to make a nature impression. Roll out a piece of clay. Press a leaf, stick, or other nature items with unique patterns or shapes into the clay. Press down all around on the item to get the full impression.

Let the clay air dry, or bake it in the oven based on what type of clay you use. When its dry, you can paint it if you want.

On rainy days, let the raindrops help create artwork. Have your kids color random splotches on a piece of paper using washable markers or chalk. You can also sprinkle powdered tempera paint on the paper.

Place the papers outside in the rain. The water spreads and blends the colors to create unique artwork. You can create the same effect indoors if it’s not raining by spritzing the artwork with water from a spray bottle.

Homemade Books

Encourage your kids to become authors and artists with homemade books. For a simple option, staple several pieces of blank paper inside a construction paper cover. You can also cut a long strip of paper and fold it accordion style to make a book.

Let the kids illustrate their stories on the pages. Older kids can write words to go along with the illustrations. Help younger kids write down their stories if they want. 

Take turns letting the kids read their stories. Add the homemade books to your shelf of books to reread later. 

Letter or Name Art

Personalize craft time for kids with a letter or name project. You can do this in a few different ways.

For a simple project, cut letters, such as each child’s initial or all of the letters of each child’s name, out of sturdy cardboard. You can also buy premade cardboard or wood letters from craft stores for this project.

Let the kids cover them in whatever craft supplies they want. They could wrap yarn around the letters, paint them, or glue random objects on the letters to decorate them.

An alternative is to get a large canvas for each child and create a letter or their full name on the canvas using painter’s tape. Make sure the letters are neat and look how you want them to appear in the final product.

The kids then paint over the canvas with the tape on it. They can paint objects or just paint random splotches of color. When they’re done, carefully remove the tape to reveal their names in white.

This artwork can double as room decor. Hang the name art in each child’s bedroom or on the bedroom door to personalize the decor.

Recycled Creations

Recycled creations are easy craft ideas for kids that don’t require any special materials. Because you use found items from around the house, you can do this craft anytime, and it doesn’t cost anything.

Head to the recycling bin to grab anything that could be used for artwork. You can also collect items from around the house that you no longer need.

Let the kids get creative to make artwork out of the objects. They might make a mobile, construct a sculpture, or create mixed media artwork from the recyclables. You can also pull out traditional crafting supplies, such as paint, glitter, or construction paper, so they can add extra details. 

Suncatchers

Crafting for kids can also be pretty for your home with artwork that looks beautiful on display. Share that beauty with neighbors or anyone who goes past your house with simple homemade suncatchers.

Start with any shape cut out of paper. If it’s a holiday, choose a related shape, such as an Easter egg, shamrock, or turkey. Cut the middle of the shape out so it just leaves a paper frame outlining the shape.

Peel off the backing from clear contact paper. Place the construction paper frame onto the sticky side of the contact paper. Cut around the outside edge of the frame to remove the excess contact paper.

Cut up small pieces of tissue paper. The kids can press the different colors of tissue paper onto the contact paper to make them stick. Have them cover all of the sticky surface.

Hang the artwork up in the window. Since the tissue paper is so thin, the light shines through it similar to a suncatcher.

Painted Flower Pots

Make a craft that you can display year round or give as a gift with painted flower pots. Simple terra cotta flower pots work well and come in a variety of sizes.

Acrylic paint works well for painting the pots. Wash and dry the pots before painting to remove any dust that might make it difficult for the paint to stick. 

The kids can have fun painting whatever they want on the pot. One fun idea is to paint the pot to look like a face. Then plant grass or other fun greenery in the pot to create the hair for the face.

Once your kids are done decorating the pots, planting something in them turns it into a science project. Watch as the seeds sprout and grow over time. Talk about what plants need to survive, and teach your kids about plant care with this project.

Art Prompts

Have a quick craft project ready for kids by preparing art prompts ahead of time. The idea is to create a tiny piece of the artwork and let the kids finish it.

One option is to cut out a small image or part of an image from a magazine. Glue it to a piece of paper. Your kids finish the artwork, incorporating the magazine image with their own additions, whether they draw, use more magazine images, paint, or use other methods.

A similar idea is to draw an abstract shape or line on the paper. The kids take over, incorporating your starter line into their drawing.

You can make it challenging by starting an obvious shape but saying the finished product can’t be that thing. For example, draw half of a heart shape but say they can’t draw a heart as part of the artwork. It forces the kids to think outside the box and get creative.

Make Craft Time Fun

With plenty of craft time ideas ready to go, you can keep your kids engaged. Those fun craft activities you plan also help your child’s physical, mental, and creative development.

Get more great advice for moms in our archives.