Five Easy Crafts for Kids

By: Laurie Leahey, Cook Scrap Craft 

The weather is getting cooler, and that means our days spent playing outside will be fewer and far between. What to do with your kids when they are stuck inside on a cold, rainy, and/or snowy day? Crafts for kids! 

And one of the easiest ways to get crafty is by using supplies you already have. (Hey, Mom and Dad also do not want to go out to the store when the weather is bad!) Paper plates, construction paper, markers, crayons, dot markers, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, jumbo popsicle sticks, self-adhesive googly eyes, and paint are just some of the arts and crafts supplies that I always keep stocked for easy crafts for kids.  

Here are some of my favorite easy craft ideas for kids: 

1. Paper Plate Turkey Name Feathers

Paper plates are great for parties and those nights when you just do not feel like doing dishes. But they are also a great tool in making fun crafts for kids. I always use plain white paper plates because you can get a lot of them at a low price, and they make a great blank canvas for all sorts of arts and crafts for kids. To start: 

1. Cut colorful “feathers” out of construction paper. (A parent will need to do this for younger kids.) 
2. Decorate the paper plate to look like a turkey face, either with markers, crayons, or paint.  
3. For a toddler or preschooler, write the letters of his name on the paper feathers (one letter per feather). Then, to practice letter recognition and spelling his name, have him pick out the letters of his name in order. Older children can write their own letters.  
4. Glue the feathers to the back of the plate. Display on your fridge! 

For another twist, write down things the child is thankful for on each feather.  

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2. Fizzing Rainbows

This is a fun and hands-on science experiment and craft for kids. It also uses a paper plate and requires just a few other easy ingredients from your pantry: baking soda, distilled white vinegar, and food coloring. 

1. Place a thin layer of baking soda on your paper plate. 
2. Make a rainbow on top of the baking soda by dropping a few drops of food coloring in the appropriate colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. (Or whatever colors you have.) 
3. Then, pour ¼ cup of distilled white vinegar into a measuring cup. 
4. Use a pipette, straw, or small spoon to pour small amounts of the vinegar onto the baking soda. 
5. Watch the rainbow colors fizz up as the chemical reaction between the baking soda and vinegar takes place. 

My kid wanted to do this easy science experiment over and over again, so have extra supplies handy for repeat experiments. 

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3. Toilet Paper Roll Binoculars

Another easy kid craft is to recycle an empty toilet paper roll into a pair of pretend binoculars. Use them on your pretend bear hunts, or with the holidays coming up, they could be Santa Searchers. There are a lot of different ways to customize these, but the basic instructions are: 

1. Wrap two empty toilet paper rolls with construction paper. (Or cut an empty paper towel roll in half and wrap each half.) You could also use leftover wrapping paper or paint. 
2. Glue or tape the toilet paper rolls together. 
3. Punch one hole into each toilet paper roll, and then tie the ends of a piece of yarn or string to the holes. 
4. Decorate the toilet paper rolls with markers, crayons, or paint. 
5. Glue on cotton balls, pom-poms, gem stones, or any other decorative art supplies you have at home. 

For another twist on toilet paper roll arts and crafts for kids, try using kids art supplies to turn the roll into a flower, monster, or animal. There are a lot of different art activities for kids that can be made with something as simple as a toilet paper tube. 

4. Tape Resist Water Color Painting

Turn a sturdy piece of white construction paper or cardstock into a work of art with watercolor paints and washi tape or painter’s tape.  

1. Place the tape on the construction paper in whatever design you want. Make sure to leave large spots of white space for painting. Areas under the tape will be paint-free. 
2. Paint in between and on top of the tape using whatever colors you would like.  
3. Let the paint dry before removing the tape to reveal a colorful geometric pattern on the paper. 

5. Cupcake Liner Flowers

Make a bouquet of flowers that will last forever with this fun craft idea for kids. All it requires are colorful cupcake liners, popsicle sticks, construction paper, and markers.  

1. Paint the popsicle sticks with green paint. Let dry. 
2. Cut out leaves from green construction paper. Glue them onto the dry popsicle sticks.  
3. Glue a cupcake liner to the top of the popsicle stick. If your cupcake liners are plain white or a solid color, feel free to add designs to them with markers. 
4. Once you have made a bunch of flowers, add them to a mason jar or vase, or glue them to a piece of paper for refrigerator display. 

You may be stuck inside on a cold or rainy day, but with just a few easy art supplies, you will have no trouble getting creative and making lots of crafts for kids at home.