If you’re new here, I sent out 1 email a day for 20 days this summer and we all crafted together! I really enjoyed seeing all of the kids crafts in our 20 Crafts In 20 Days Facebook group. Kids are so creative and it was fun seeing how they made the crafts their own. The 20 kid crafts below are mostly made with recycled materials or things you likely have on hand like cereal boxes and nature! (You can find the materials list for all 20 crafts below here.)
1. DIY Lava lamps
Julie’s little ones made these gorgeous lava lamps with vegetable oil, water, and food coloring. Best part? They double has a science experiment about density!
2. DIY puzzles
DIY puzzles are double the fun! You get to make it and then play with it! It’s one of my childhood favorites. can you believe these are made out of cereal boxes?!
3. Shaving cream marbling
Julie and her kiddos made these awesome shaving cream marbling pieces. They turned out great! One of my favorite things about this craft is the process is fun, but you can use the art to make cards, banners, and more!
4. Matisse Inspired collage
A tiny bit of background- Henri Matisse was born in 1869 and besties with Pablo Picasso. Who knew? For the Matisse inspired collage all you need is construction paper and scissors! This craft can be done individually or on a large canvas or peice of cardboard with lots of little artists. We made ours an I-Spy collage. Can you find a spider, key, dinosaur, and pretzel?
5. Trash monsters
This craft was invented by my 5 year old son. Max collected some random boxes from the recycle bin and asked me to heat up my hot glue gun. Come to find out, a trash monster eats trash and it’s pretty fun to make! Also, there is no wrong way to make ’em. When we do it, I’m in charge of the hot glue gun and they tell me where and what to glue. Then the kids “decorate” the monster on their own with tape, stickers, pipe cleaners, construction paper, etc… I’m obsessed with the rolled cardboard eyes Max did all on his own!
6. Father’s day card
If Google says it, we know it’s true! Maybe? 😉 This Father’s Day card craft includes a free printable, but you can easily skip the freebie and make it 100% kid made!
7. Marbled mugs
making marbled mugs is one of my favorite crafts. The process is mesmerizing and kids love making these too. These also make the perfect, useful Father’s Day gift!
8. The color game
The color game is less of a “craft” and more of a game. A very low key, no prep game. The game itself is geared towards the younger crowd, but older kiddos enjoy setting it up and directing the little ones. My son is 5 and is 100% still into the color game! (Directing and playing!)
9. Handprint paintings
Whether your kiddo loves fire fighters or zebras, cactus, or anything in between, this craft covers all of your bases! You can always use plain white printer paper, but sometimes it’s fun to whip out a card board box or brown paper bag and paint a collage of handprints. It also helps with the mess!
10. Marshmallow structures
Today’s craft involves building and food, two of my sons very favorite things. Oh and this craft doubles as snack time! (Kind of, ha!) All you need is a bowl of mini marshmallows and toothpicks. I like to set a goal with each kid. For example, how tall of a structure can you build? Or Max’s current favorite goal is to build a garage for his monster truck. (Pictured below.) Mila likes to builds houses for her animals. Help each kiddo come up with goal based on their current interest.
11. DIY Bird feeder
To make this DIY bird feeder you need 3 things:
- Empty tp tube
- Peanut butter
- Bird seed
Spread the peanut butter on the tp tube and stick it in bird seed. Voila! The easiest bird feeder you ever did make!
12. Shaving cream paint
My kids love shaving cream. Turn shaving cream into paint with a little glue and make a few polar bears!
13. Cardboard painting
The only rule is: fill the cardboard with paint! Also, I recommend doing this one outside!
14. Crazy circles
This is the perfect low key craft that takes the kids more than 7 minutes to complete. I love this craft because it always turns out awesome and all you need is crayons (or markers) and white paper.
15. Slime
Slime is always a winner in our house! Gather these 4 ingredients:
- Elmer’s glue
- Contact solution
- Baking soda
- Food coloring
… and get ready for the slime magic to happen! It takes some time to knead together, so be patient.
16. Stick paintings
Crafting with nature is always a good idea! Lately, my kids have been into painting sticks, but feel free to substitute sticks for rocks or leaves or whatever they can find. Here are some fun ideas for painting rock monsters.
17. Bleeding tissue paper
This is a craft you’ll want to do again and again, bleeding tissue paper is magical! A white background works best and the thicker the better since you will be painting the tissue paper with water. If you don’t have an extra canvas on hand consider painting a peice of cardboard white. Or white card stock works too!
18. Cereal box buildings
Making cereal box buildings is fun, but playing with them is even better. Maxwell loves to knock them over with his monster trucks and Mila enjoys using them as a purse to hide my things! (I hope your 3 year old does not do the latter.)
19. Flag collage
The 4th of July is just around the corner and today’s craft is honor of America’s 243rd birthday! If you don’t have paint chips on hand, feel free to use construction paper or colored sections on magazine pages to create a flag shaped collage.
20. DIY Ice blocks
This is one of our favorite summer kid crafts because– ICE! We live in Texas and it’s hot, these ice blocks are fun to make and break!
If you need more ideas, check out this post with 20 more kid crafts with things you likely have on hand. There’s an entire book dedicated to free kid crafts, if you’re interested, Creating Really Awesome Free Things! The book is complete with 100 kid crafts made with everyday household items!
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