Arts and crafts can bring many benefits for your children, including coordination and fine motor skills, as well as engaging their creative side and promoting social interaction. But whilst some adults love nothing better than an art project, others might be slightly less crafty. If you fall into the latter category but still want to take part in some arts and crafts with your kids, we’re here to help get you started.

Below are a few easy craft ideas for kids, to let them get creative and keep them entertained. Plus, they’re all simple enough for even the most un-crafty person to help out with and get you started with arts and crafts.

Tools You’ll Need for a Simple Craft Kit

Many of these crafts can be done with items you might already have around the house. For most basic crafts, you’ll need:

• Good quality paper or card
• Scissors
• PVA glue or Mod Podge
• Tape dispenser
• Paints, felt tip pens, or colouring pencils
• Fabric
• A storage box to keep everything organised

 

 

Easy Crafts to Do at Home

Paper Weaving

Paper crafts for kids, such as paper weaving, are super simple with no mess. Once your child has the basics of weaving, they can experiment with more complex design ideas.

To start, you’ll need at least two pieces of paper, ideally in different colours, a pair of scissors, and sticky tape. Take the first piece of paper and fold it in half. Cut into the fold halfway down the paper, but don’t cut all the way to the ends – leave a couple of centimetres or so at the edge uncut. Cut the halves in half, and then cut these sections in half again, so you have eight even sections. Unfold the paper that now has equal slots for weaving.

Cut the other piece of paper the same way as the first, but this time cut all the way through. Alternatively, you could use a paper trimmer. You’ll be left with eight even strips of paper for weaving. To weave in a checkerboard pattern, take one strip and weave it over the section on the slotted paper. Then, weave it under the next section and so on to the top of the page. With the next strip, weave in an alternative pattern, so start by going under and then over etc. Carry on with each strip. When you’ve finished, fold the ends of the strips over the back of the slotted page and tape them down with sticky tape.

 

 

For older kids, try experimenting with different designs, like a chevron design. Increase the number of slots in the page and strips of paper they have to weave and let them get creative!

Papier-Mâché Bowls

For papier-mâché bowls, you’ll need balloons, craft paper or newspaper, and a papier-mâché paste. You can make the paste either by mixing one part of PVA glue with two parts water or by mixing one part flour with one part water.

To make the bowls, start by cutting the paper into strips, either with scissors or with a paper trimmer. Then blow up a balloon and cover the top half with paper strips and the paste. Leave it to dry and then pop the balloon. Voilà! You now have a papier-mâché bowl that can be decorated however you please. If you’ve used craft paper, you can leave it blank or get your child to paint a pretty design. They can then use the bowls to hold trinkets, sweets, or anything else they’d like.

Fabric Flower Pots

If you have some spare flower pots, an easy craft idea is to brighten them up with some fabric. Find some spare fabric, like a bandana or maybe an old t-shirt in a fun pattern. Measure and cut it so it will easily wrap around the flower pot. You should leave some extra fabric at the top so you can fold it down over the rim.

Use PVA glue or Mod Podge to stick the fabric to the flower pot. You can then fill with soil, plant a seed and wait for it to grow! Not only is this a great, simple craft idea to do at home with kids, but you can also get them interested in gardening and growing their own plants.

Fabric Paperweights

For a fabric paperweight, you’ll need scissors, a small rock, fabric, felt, and PVA glue or Mod Podge. Cut the fabric so it can be easily wrapped around the rock. You can get creative with how you stick the fabric to the rock – either wrap the fabric around in one piece or wrap separate strips. You could even try strips of different coloured fabric to make a pattern. Whatever type of wrap you go for, stick it down with PVA glue or Mod Podge.

You can then personalise the paper weight by cutting your child’s initial out of felt and sticking it to the top. You can also add any other felt shapes, like a heart, star, or flower. Leave it to dry and then your child can use it for a paperweight on their desk. Or maybe they’ll let you use it for your home office!

Mosaic Pictures

Mosaic pictures are a really simple and fun way for your kids to get creative at home. You’ll need paper or card in different colours, scissors, and glue. You could even use old magazines instead of paper, if preferred.

Cut the paper into small squares. You could also include triangles, rectangles and circles to give your kids more choice as they put their picture together. You can then leave them to make their own patterns by sticking the shapes onto a blank piece of paper, or you could draw out the outline of a simple drawing, such as a boat, spaceship, or unicorn. Then you could get your child to fill in the outline with their paper tiles in whatever patterns and colours they want!

DIY Paper Kites

DIY paper kites are a simple craft to do at home but will require a little bit more equipment. You’ll need paper, scissors, a bamboo skewer or plastic straw, sticky tape, hole punch, string, ribbon, and tissue paper.

 

 

You’ll find a great step-by-step guide here so you can fold and stick your paper kite. Finish with an optional paper bow trail which will flutter behind as your kite flies! You can also paint your kite with different patterns or pictures or add stickers. Have your children race their kites or see whose can fly the farthest.

Stained Glass Effect Suncatchers

For a stained glass effect suncatcher, you’ll need scissors, coloured paper, coloured tissue paper, and contact paper. Start by cutting out a simple shape from the coloured paper, such as a heart, star, or rainbow. Then cut out the middle of the shape, leaving a border about 1 cm wide in your desired shape.

Next, you can cut or tear your tissue paper into small pieces. Use a few different colours and don’t worry too much about what shapes you end up with. This can be a fun job for kids to get involved with, but just make sure they don’t tear up the shape too small!

Next, you’ll need to prepare your contact paper. Cut a piece a little bigger than your border and then peel off the backing, leaving it sticky side up. Fix the border onto the sticky side so it’s completely covered to the edges. Then you can start filling in the space inside the board with your tissue paper pieces. Aim to overlap the tissue paper so there are no clear gaps anywhere. If any pieces extend past the border, they’ll be trimmed off later.

When the space is completely filled with tissue paper, take another piece of contact paper and stick it to the front, sealing everything inside. For a tidier finish, you can put another border on the front of the tissue paper-filled shape before you put the contact paper on it. Then you just need to trim the edges of the contact paper, so you’re just left with your border. You can then hang your suncatcher in the window with string by poking a small hole into the top.

Leitz has a wide range of stationery and equipment that’s ideal for arts and crafts at home, whether you’re just starting out with simple crafts or doing more complex projects.