Kids' Free Art Activities
- Have fun with kid art.kids on the bikes image by Peric Sinisa from Fotolia.com
Kids love doing hands-on activities, such as art projects. It can help them feel more grown up and adult, as well as give them a tangible result for all their hard work. There are many art activities you can do with your child at home that are free, as long as you use common household items that you already have. - Kids often have a wide range of dolls for play. They often like to pretend the dolls are their babies and use cribs for the babies to sleep in. This simple art activity will give children a cute cradle for a teddy bear or small doll. Start by giving your child an oatmeal box, scissors, colored paper and glue. Use the scissors to cut off the top half of the oatmeal box. Only cut about two thirds of the half off. Leave a little overhang for the baby's head to rest under. The overhang should be at the top of the oatmeal box. Use glue to stick the top of the box on fast. Use the construction paper to decorate the crib. Wrap it around the crib and cut off any excess paper. Glue it on to the box and let it dry. If they like, your children can use crayons or markers to color the box. This craft should only take 10 to 15 minutes.
- Pie plates are good for one, maybe two uses before you have to throw them away. However, you can actually save some waste and entertain your child by creating a pie plate fish out of a used pie plate. Give each child two pie plates of the same size, some hard paper, pencils, scissors, stapler, glue, scrap wood and crayons or markers. Start by stapling your two pie plates together. They should be stapled with the open end facing each other. Draw out a fish head, a top fin, a bottom fin and a fish tail on the hard paper. Cut them out, and use the crayons and markers to color them. Use the staple gun to attach the body parts to the pie tin. Stand up the scrap piece of wood and glue the fish to it. Adjust it so that it can stand up straight. If you don't have any scrap pieces of wood around the house, hang the fish from the ceiling using strong pieces of tape.
- Bookmarks can help your child keep their place with whatever book they are reading. They are extremely easy to make and can be done in as little as five minutes. Find some old greeting cards, crayons, a pencil, an eraser and scissors. Give your child a few moments to find a greeting card with a picture they like on the front. Make sure the greeting cards are fairly nice and not cheaply made. This will help avoid damage to the bookmark. The child should turn the card over and draw a shape they like on the back of the card. The shape should be fairly vertical, like a carrot or a baseball bat. Cut the shape out of the greeting card. They can then use their crayons and markers to color the white side of the card. You can also use threads or tassels to decorate the top of the bookmark, but this isn't essential.
