For many caregivers, the phrase “easy craft projects” feels contradictory, evoking images of exasperated kids needing help at every step, convoluted directions, bits that won’t cooperate and finished pieces that bear no resemblance to the photo. After dropping $15 on supplies, your table is a disaster zone, the kids are bummed, they’re already asking for something else, and Mom or Dad never even got a chance to reply to that one work email.
Forget the beaded dream catcher that turned into a nightmare and the paper taco that looked suspiciously like a squashed banana. Savinly’s “No Rules, Just Create” art activities use mostly things you already have around the home and will occupy children ages 6 to 10 for at least an hour without requiring adult assistance.
Some of these projects even become playthings they can use later or gifts for a younger sibling.
- There’s no wrong way to build a 6-foot mural of an underwater scene using paint, crayons, milk jug lids, fabric scraps and magazine pictures.
- Constructing a town from cereal boxes and oatmeal canisters wrapped in construction paper only needs to meet the young architect’s specs. Bottle caps make great windows. A takeout drink carrier can double as a sky tram.
- Plastic tigers and giraffes will happily nibble any vegetation that aspiring zoologists place in their zoo crafted from box lids and popsicle sticks.
Below are some pointers and simple guidance to provide your kids with materials and the right mindset.
First Up, Gather Supplies
Reused and Recyclable Materials
Spend about a week putting empty containers and small boxes into several paper grocery bags instead of tossing them in the recycling or trash.
- Save these items such as milk cartons and caps, shoe boxes, frozen meal boxes and their plastic trays, takeout containers, takeout drink carriers, condiment cups, straws, cereal boxes, juice boxes and tall paper cups.
- Look beyond the kitchen. Keep plastic razor cases, toothpaste boxes, toothpaste caps, empty makeup pots and fabric softener sheets.
- Size is irrelevant. Even a tiny battery box or a single-serve salad dressing container can become a chimney in a cardboard metropolis or a feeding trough in a box-lid zoo.
- Collect paper. Save magazines, junk mail, newspapers and any other paper you’d normally recycle to use images for gluing onto projects.
- Hold onto worn-out clothing. Go through closets—if something your family no longer wears isn’t suitable to donate or sell, toss it into a bag for craft fabric. Gather fabric scraps as well.
Items to Purchase if You Don’t Have Them
- Markers
- Elmer’s glue (this generally secures better than glue sticks)
- Glue sticks
- Assorted construction paper
- Box of popsicle sticks
- Pipe cleaners
- Roll of easel paper
- Plastic animals. Not mandatory, but it’s more fun to have duplicates of certain animals. Here’s a set of 54 for $13.45 on Amazon.
- At least two rolls of clear tape
- Aluminum foil
- Modeling clay or Play-Doh
- Glue gun and glue sticks if your child is old enough to use one, though it’s optional
Nature to Collect
Walk around your neighborhood, schoolyard or a local park to gather these natural elements.
- Rocks, pebbles and gravel in assorted sizes and colors—about a cup of each
- Mulch, a cup or two
- Weeds
- Sticks
- Sand
- Shells
- Leaves
10 Affordable Crafts Kids Will Dive Into
Whichever project you choose first, encourage kids to build it their way—it doesn’t need to resemble anything realistic. Tell them you won’t peek until it’s finished because you want to be surprised. If something doesn’t pan out, suggest they try a different approach.
1. Underwater Mural
Create a mixed-media underwater mural using magazine clippings, junk mail, fabric bits, stickers, crayons, paint, bottle caps and nature items. Paint or color a 6-foot-long roll of easel paper in varied blues and greens.
Cut out real photos of sea creatures from magazines or use interesting patterns from clothing or decor images to fashion creatures. You can draw creatures on the paper or fabric before cutting if preferred. Draw or cut out real or imagined sea life, then glue or tape them onto the paper.
2. Cruise Ship Mural
Depending on your child’s comfort level, an adult might sketch a cruise ship on a six-foot sheet of easel paper. Draw a long oval, divide it into three or four decks with horizontal lines and add a couple of tall round smokestacks. Kids can include portholes, larger windows, flags, pools, life preservers, people and more by drawing or gluing shapes or photos from magazines, construction paper, fabric or aluminum foil. Tape rows of popsicle sticks across the top deck to simulate railings.
Paint or color water surrounding the ship and add marine life by drawing or adhering additional accents.
3. Farm
For this farm, use larger plastic horses and grocery or liquor boxes; if you want a rescue farm for the same zoo animals, shoe boxes work well.
Turn boxes into stables by taping smaller boxes to the floor of larger ones to create individual stalls. Build fences for stalls using popsicle sticks: tape two sticks between vertical supports and add a third vertical stick in the center. Lean or tape this against the boxes forming the stalls. Use smaller boxes and popsicle sticks similarly to craft jumps and a riding ring beside the stables.
Add feeding troughs from condiment containers or other small boxes lined with aluminum foil inside the stalls and ring. Fill troughs with leaves and weeds. Bind dried grass into small hay bales with string or pipe cleaners.
4. Outer Space Mural
Create a galactic mixed-media mural using aluminum foil, magazines, junk mail, fabric scraps, stickers, crayons, paint, bottle caps and natural finds to imagine life on another world. Kids can draw or cut out how they envision alien homes, vehicles, inhabitants and landscapes.
5. Boat Parade
Remove lids or cut away one side of boxes so they can hold passengers like dolls, plastic animals or action figures. Wrap the boxes in construction paper and decorate with stripes and boat names.
Make flags for sterns by taping fabric or colored paper to a straw or pipe cleaner.
6. Box Lid Zoo
Glue or tape popsicle sticks to the rim of a box lid. Children can also cut out one side of a shallow box, like those used for frozen dinners. Fill each enclosure with terrain—rocks, mulch, grass or twigs. Make feeding troughs from takeout dressing cups, condiment containers or small boxes.
Fill troughs with leaves or pretend food. Construct trees from pipe cleaners or real sticks; anchor them in a ball of clay and adhere that to the bottom of the box lid. Add animals to complete the exhibit.
7. Doll House
Use a glue gun to join four large cardboard boxes: two side-by-side on the bottom and two side-by-side on top, all with the open sides facing outward.
Transform the boxes into a kitchen, living room, dining room and bedroom for dolls, small stuffed animals or plastic zoo creatures cohabiting. Wrap different-sized boxes in construction paper to make a refrigerator, stove, microwave, fireplace, table, chair, bed, TV, sofa and more. Glue bottle caps and toothpaste lids onto tables as dishes.
Fashion blankets and curtains from fabric scraps, fabric softener sheets or napkins. Draw windows, doors, artwork, bookshelves and framed TVs on the interior box walls, or cut pictures from magazines and glue them on. Cut out a pretty image and draw a frame around it for wall art.
8. Tree House Mural
Stand a 6-foot piece of easel paper vertically and have kids design a tall tree with their ideal tree house perched at the top. Paint or color the trunk and add texture from nature, magazine clippings or cloth. Include residents like birds and insects.
At the top, sketch a simple tree house with a floor and railing or a detailed one with windows, stairs, a rooftop lookout and all the extras. Embellish with drawings, magazine photos, fabric and any other items that adhere.
9. Your Town, U.S.A.
Create a town from boxes and cartons wrapped in paper, then decorate with markers, magazine pictures and stickers to add doors and windows. Combine two boxes to form a single building. Arrange them on a long sheet of easel paper decorated with roads, parking spots and parks. Add toy cars to populate the streets.
For taller structures, place a heavy object like a stapler, rock or paperweight inside so they don’t tip over.
10. Tropical Island Mural
Draw a curved line across the bottom of a 6-foot sheet of easel paper and color or paint it to resemble sand. Glue real sticks, leaves or magazine images to create palm trees and lush greenery.
Cut fabric or paper to make hammocks and glue them between trees. Draw or paste images of rocks and water to fashion waterfalls. Add pictures or cutouts of huts, animals and tropical blooms.
Rebecca Hart is a senior writer for Savinly.
