Guest Post from Jenny Ellis

5 Cheap, Fun Crafts for Kids

Doing crafts with kids doesn’t have to be messy, expensive or hard. There are plenty of fun things that you and your child can create without a lot of work or money. Here are five fun and esy crafts for your kids to create.

1. Mess-Free Finger Painting–You’ll need some paint, tape, and zip-top sandwich bags for this one. Simply put two glops of paint inside a sandwich bag, seal tightly, and tape to a window or glass door. The kids can ‘paint’ and mix through the bag. Teach them about color and what combinations make what, and all this with no clean up! Just throw away the bag after it starts to harden.

2. Magnet Faces – All this one takes is some paper, a glue stick, and a sheet of magnets. Simply have your child draw eyes, lips, ears, etc. Then glue a magnet to the back of the face parts and give them a place to stick them. Even a cookie sheet will work. Have kids make all sorts of funny faces and even monster faces with their drawings! This also works with felt.
   
   
   
   

3. Make Your Own Stamps–You’ll need some foam stickers and foam blocks for this one. Super easy. All you do is adhere the stickers to the bottom of the block and, voila, you just made a stamp. Pair that with some washable ink in fun colors (even markers will work) and some paper and you’ll kids will love it.

4. Shoebox Guitars – This one is super easy. Just get various sizes of rubber bands and a few boxes. Shoeboxes work best. Have kids wrap the rubber bands around them and then see what tone the bands make. They can fool around until they get the set up they like, and then play their instruments. Best of all, it never gets too loud!

 

5.Felt Decorating – Depending on your child’s interests and the time of year, this can be a great craft to keep them entertained for hours. A large piece of felt can be cut into a Christmas tree, farm, or racetrack shape and attached to the wall. Then kids can design and cut out their own felt decorations, animals, or vehicles to attach and play with. Very creative and can be used over and over again!

Jenny Ellis is a freelance writer, and a regular contributor for aupair jobs. She welcomes your comments at: ellisjenny728 @ gmail.com.