There’s nothing quite like sitting down with your kids and introducing them to the nostalgic crafts of your childhood. These super easy classic crafts are great for kids of all ages (including the kids at heart!) and the best part? They only require a few materials, most of which you likely have lying around your home.
Rock Painting
Source: By Nell @ Rhythms of Play, “How to Paint Rocks and Rock Painting Ideas” (https://rhythmsofplay.com/get-outside-connect-collect-and-paint-rocks/)Rock painting is a fun classic craft that lets your kids get creative and create mementos for themselves, or spread some joy and hide them around your community and share their art with others!All you need is:
- A collection of rocks, smooth ones are best – collect them on your vacations to the beach, or your walks around town.
- Acrylic paint or paint pens.
Wash your rocks if they’re dirty and let them completely dry. Then, let their little minds come up with all kinds of crazy designs for them to paint using paint pens or acrylic paints. Maybe they’ll even create their own pet rock. It’s that simple! If you’re planning on sharing their art and leaving their rock painting masterpieces around your community for others to find, consider sealing them with a clear varnish, otherwise, once the paint is dry they’re ready to display!
Tissue Box Guitar
Source: By WikiHow, “How to Make a Tissue Box Guitar” (https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Tissue-Box-Guitar)What’s better than a craft? A craft you can play with after! Help them build their own instrument for their imaginary rock band with this classic craft.You’ll need:
- 1 empty rectangular tissue box
- 1 paper towel roll
- Rubber bands
- Tape
- Whatever you’d like to use for decoration!
Prep this craft first by removing the plastic from the top of the tissue box. Trace and cut a hole the size of the end of your paper towel roll onto one of the small sides of your box – when the paper towel roll is inserted, and you turn the tissue box with the top (where the tissue comes out) facing forward it will resemble a guitar.Once prepped, insert the paper towel roll about an inch or so, and tape it to secure. Now your kiddos can get involved! Let them decorate their guitar with construction paper, paint, glitter, stickers, whatever their little hearts desire. When they’re done creating their dream guitar, stretch a couple of rubber bands around each side of the box to create “strings” and their new instrument is ready to rock!
Water Painting
Source: By Jamie @ Hands On as We Grow, “Quick Painting the Driveway with Water Activity” (https://handsonaswegrow.com/water-activity-painting-the-driveway/)This classic summer craft is super simple, and a fun way to entertain your kids outside. The best part? All you need is water and paintbrushes! If your kids love to create, water painting can be a great way to let their imaginations run wild without the mess. Set them up with a few different sizes of paintbrushes and a large cup of water and let them use your driveway, deck, or other concrete or stone surfaces as their canvas. They’ll be able to paint until their heart’s content, and even if your entire patio turns into an elaborate scene, once they’re done painting, the patio will dry in the sun and no clean-up is needed!
Crayon Rubbings
By Ness @ Kids Activities, “Crayon Wax Rubbing {Cute Crayon Art Ideas}” (https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/26965/wax-rubbing/)If your kids are curious, and often find themselves with all kinds of trinkets from their walks or playtime, this can be a great classic craft and teaching moment. All you need to set your kids up to make crayon rubbings is:
- A few little trinkets and/or pieces of nature like different types of leaves, bark or coins
- Paper
- Variety of crayons.
Get your kids to pick their favorite item, place it under the paper and choose a crayon color to start with. Have them turn the crayon on its side, long ways, and start rubbing it on the paper over the top of the item. They’ll slowly be able to see all the details of their item show up as they continue to rub the crayon over the paper. Once they’ve gotten the hang of it, they can experiment with using multiple colors. Crayon rubbings can be great for teaching kids too. They can create books of different leaves that they’ve collected and made rubbings of, helping them learn the different types of trees by naming each type of leaves they’ve collected. Crayon rubbings can be a great way to get your kids excited to go on walks and explore, as they collect new items to add to their crayon rubbing collection!
DIY Playdough
Source: By Jamielyn Nye @ iHeartNaptime, “Best Homemade Playdough Recipe” (https://www.iheartnaptime.net/play-dough-recipe/)There’s nothing more classic than playdough. We’ve all enjoyed countless hours creating all kinds of things out of those little containers of brightly colored dough, but did you know playdough is super easy to make at home? With the help of your kids, you can turn this classic crafting material into its own fun DIY project. All you’ll need is:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 Tablespoons Oil
- 2 Tablespoons cream of tartar
- ½ cup Salt
- 1- 1 ½ cups boiling water
- Food coloring
Mix the flour, oil, salt, and cream of tartar together in a bowl. Add a few drops of food coloring to the boiling water and mix. Add the water to your flour mixture ½ cup at a time until the dough is fully combined (it will be sticky), you may not need the full 1 ½ cups.Let your dough cool, then remove it from the bowl and knead it until it’s no longer sticky. Now it’s ready to use! Make a few batches in different colors and let your kids create all kinds of characters and items!The dough can be stored in an airtight container and it will stay soft and pliable for weeks. This is a cheap alternative to store-bought playdough and can be a great way to get your kids to learn how to follow recipes.
Sponge Painting
Source: By WikiHow, “How to Sponge Paint with Kids” (https://www.wikihow.com/Sponge-Paint-With-Kids)This is a great classic craft that’s perfect for all ages. Sponge painting is safe sensory play for toddlers and older kids will love that they can get more involved in the creation of shapes, mixing of paints, etc. You’ll need:
- Kitchen sponges
- Scissors
- Paper
- Acrylic Paints
If your kids are younger you’ll want to do this part but older kids can do this themselves with supervision – cut the kitchen sponges into a variety of shapes. To make it easier you can sketch an outline on the sponge first using a marker. You can really get creative here; stars, trees, dinosaurs, you name it! With your sponge shapes ready, create a palette of acrylic paints on a plate and have your child dip the sponge in their chosen color, and stamp the sponge on their paper. They can create all kinds of fun designs, and even make cards for birthdays and holidays!
Egg Carton Bumblebee
Source: By Michelle @ Crafty Morning, “Egg Carton Bumble Bee Craft for Kids” (https://www.craftymorning.com/egg-carton-bumble-bee-craft-for-kids/)Egg cartons are a versatile crafting material – you can create all kinds of fun animals and objects out of them. This egg carton bumblebee is a simple and cute classic craft that your kids will love. For your egg carton bumble bee you’ll need:
- 1 empty egg carton – remove two of the cups
- Yellow and black paint
- Black pipe cleaner
- Googly eyes
- Hot glue gun
Have your kid paint the two egg carton cups yellow with black stripes, and let them dry. Once dry, hot glue the two cups together. Twist one pipe cleaner into a figure-eight shape, twisting the two ends together to close. Cut another pipe cleaner into two 2-3 inch pieces. Hot glue the figure-eight pipe cleaner on the back of the egg cups for the wings and the two straight pipe cleaners near the front of one of the cups for the antenna. Your kid can draw a face on the bumblebee or hot glue two googly eyes on the font under the antenna.
Sock Puppet
Source: By Maggie @ Red Ted Art, “Classic Sock Puppet Craft for Kids” (https://www.redtedart.com/classic-sock-puppet-craft-for-kids/)Sock puppets are a fun way to engage your child’s imagination. Have them make their own little puppet friend and watch as they create stories and personalities for them! You’ll need:
- 1 sock – any old sock will do, white, black, polka-dotted!
- Googly eyes
- Felt
- Yarn
- PomPoms
- Buttons
- Hot glue gun
All you need to do to create your new friend is stretch out the sock and lay it flat, heel facing up. Treat the toe area of the sock as the face of the puppet (you can put it on your hand and use a marker to mark where you’d like the eyes and mouth to be. Then using the decorations of your choice, create your unique character! Yarn for hair, button eyes, a pompom nose, a felt mouth? Whatever your kids can dream up! As a bonus, you could create a theatre for their new puppets by cutting a square “window” out of a large cardboard box. Have your kids decorate their new theatre however they like and watch as they put on plays and act out scenes from their imagination with their new sock puppets.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a fun new activity to keep your kiddos occupied on summer break, or after school, these classic crafts are a perfect choice. Using simple, everyday materials, it’s easy to quickly set up a crafting station and spend a few hours crafting with your little ones.
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