This Cheap & Easy Crafts for Kids Series will save the day during school breaks. Up until a couple years ago school breaks meant summer or winter fun, but in the past couple of years we have had several school breaks due to strikes and of course now public health.
My goal is to bring you a collection of project ideas to help you remain clam and feel like your kids learned a thing or two over any school break.
It can be challenge to navigate school breaks. You want your kids to stay active and learn, not sit in front of screens all day, and yet you probably also need to take care of the things you do when they are in school, like get some work done, food shopping, having a few minutes of peace and quiet…you know, things we parents do to maintain calm! And of course now with the directive to stay home you are probably feeling even more nervous about how to occupy your children’s time during the coming weeks…
Because of this I am refreshing our cheap and easy crafts and activities for kids series. I originally wrote this last year for a different break but I hope will come in handy over the period of school closures as the world deals with coronavirus. The post focuses on projects you can do using items from your pantry or other household items you have on hand.
How to use this post and guide
This post/guide is divided into weeks with themed days. Each day has 3 different activity options and a related playlist of videos on our YouTube channel. I suggest doing 1 to 2 activities per day. You can either bookmark or pin this post here and come back to it each day OR you can download our printable PDF guides for each week below.
This post contains affiliate links.
Cheap & Easy Crafts for Kids
skip to Week 2 here
Week 1 Activities
Materials
The activities in the first week of the guide use the following materials. If you have these on hand you have the makings of some fun projects!
- Flour
- Dishsoap
- Lemons
- Corn Syrup
- Oil
- Cornstarch
- Vinegar
- Paper
- Salt
- Epsom Salt
- Food Coloring
- Glue
- Paper Towels
- Milk
- Eggs
- Recycled plastic lids
Day #1 Crafts & Activities: Play Recipes
Before you dismiss play recipes as just for preschool aged kids I want to let you know that whenever I make oobleck for an event we usually have older kids at the station much longer than littles. In fact I believe that older kids love and need sensory play as much as younger children. As kids get older we forget about how much they love to squish, stir and play.
So mix up a batch of one of these play recipes for your kids and have some sensory fun! Included in the play dough and oobleck posts are activity ideas as well!
- How to Make Cloud Dough
- How to Make Play Dough + Playdough Activity Ideas
- How to Make Oobleck + Oobleck Activity Ideas
Play recipes playlist on You Tube
Day #2 Crafts & Activities: Reactions
Want to get a reaction out of your kids ? Then brew up one of these concoctions! Day 2 of our Cheap and Easy Crafts series features chemical reactions to wow your kids.
These 3 easy science projects that feature a fizzing, bubbling, and/or colorful reactions using household ingredients. Be sure to do these on a tray to contain the mess!
- Lemon Volcanoes
- Magic Milk
- Wizards Brew Recipe is in project #3
Reactions playlist on You Tube
Day #3 Easy Crafts for Kids: Exploring Color
Here’s a little tip I’ve learned after working with kids on creative projects over the years: Color is one of the best ways to get children interested in a project. It’s nearly impossible to resist a set of new colored pencils or a palette of colorful paints just sitting there waiting to be combined…so when in doubt about an activity try to amp up the color factor to entice your kids over to try it!
- 3 Homemade Paints
- Cosmic Suncatchers
- Tie Dye Paper Towels (featured in my book STEAM Play & Learn)
Exploring Color Playlist on You Tube
Day #4 Easy Crafts: That’s Salty
If there is one particularly fascinating (and super common) ingredient that has some unusual uses it has to be SALT. Most of us just think of it as a flavor enhancer but did you know that it can conduct electricity and you can grow crystals with it? Here are 3 fun ways to put salt to use in creative projects:
That’s Salty Playlist on You Tube
Day #5 Easy Crafts: Science Magic
We can all use some wonder in our lives and science offers us so many opportunities to see just how beautiful and magical this world of our is. For the last day of our Cheap & Easy Series we are focusing on a few magical science projects.
- Rubber Eggs
- Bleeding Blossoms
- Layered Liquids
- BONUS PROJECT: Rollback Can
Science Magic Playlist on You Tube
Week 2 Activities
Day #1: Easy Art
Some of the best art ideas are simple process based activities you can set-up in no time! These three art projects use easy to find materials you probably have on hand. They also challenge kids to think differently about common materials!
Day # 2: Paper Crafts
We love paper crafts because they make use of the most common art material around: PAPER! Go beyond coloring pages and see what 3 dimensional things you can make with paper!
Day #3: Simple STEAM
STEAM projects are at the heart of this blog because they challenge kids to combine different subjects, take risks, and problem solve. Here are some simple STEAM activities to get started with at home.
Day #4: DIY Toys
We love making toys out of materials we find around the house! Making your own toys gives kids a sense of pride and also has lots to teach them about phyiscs, design, and problem solving.
Day #5: Recycled Crafts
Upcycling items from your recycling bin or junk drawer is a great way to get creative and make use of materials you already own. It's also a good lesson on the three R's: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
More
I’m working on a third week of activities right now. In the meantime here are some more resources on my blog with creative project ideas:
My book STEAM Play & Learn also has lots of ideas and is available on Amazon here:
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