Growing Apple Seeds
Growing little apple trees from seed is great fun. It is a great experience for kids to be able to take a seed from a fruit that they have eaten and watch it grow into a little tree.
Growing Avocado Trees
Watching the stone from an avocado tree grow is fascinating. Following this method, you can watch the growth of the roots and shoots. They grow incredibly fast with nearly daily changes being noticeable.
Handprint Flower
Flowers made from the handprints of one or more children make wonderful gifts!
Pirate Hat
Little Pirates will love to make and wear these pirate hats.
Paper Plate Dinosaur
This craft from the brilliant kidscraftweekly.com turns a paper plate into a moving Brontosaurus!
Stars and Stripes
Painters Tape and a sponge are used to create this very cool looking version of the US flag. Great for 4th July Celebrations
Pom Pom Caterpillars
These cute caterpillars will certainly capture the imagination of your kids!
Marbled Valentine
Shaving foam and paint can be used by even the smallest artist to create beautiful marbled paper. Put that paper to good use in these gorgeous Valentines.
Sparkly Snowman
Place a battery operated candle inside these fun snowman and they will add sparkle to any winter gathering! I think I got inspiration for this project from a magazine but can't remember which!
Bug Trap
Catch bugs and creepy crawlies to study with this simple yet very effective bug trap.
Banana Pops
Coat bananas in chocolate and sprinkles and freeze for a fun summer activity – and treat!
Melted Crayon Earth
Melted crayons provide particularly vibrant colors to images. In this activity melted blue and green crayons are used to create a picture of planet earth. This makes a great earth day project - as you can talk about caring for the earths resources by recycling. In this case using old crayon stubs to create art!
Crystal Flower
Add these crystal flowers to canvas or frame them to create a fabulous gift.
Crystal Snowflake
Grow your own crystal snowflake! These incredible snowflakes can be hung in your window as suncatchers or hung on your Christmas Tree as spectacular ornaments.
Inkblot Butterflies
These inkblot butterflies are intriguing for kids to make - simple dots of paint transform into beautiful symmetrical butterflies.
Coffee Filter Butterfly
Transform a coffee filter into a butterfly with this simple craft that is ideal for toddlers or preschoolers - but which can be enjoyed by kindergartners too. The best bit - spreading the colors together: the little ones will have so much fun watching the paints squish and mingle (and making a mess). And the end product is fun to play with too
Crayon Leaf Rubbings
An autumn favorite - make leaves magically appear on paper!
Easy Jack o Lanterns
Don't leave your preschooler out of the jack-o-lantern fun. Provide them with a small pumpkin, googly eyes and other craft supplies and let them go wild!
Autumn Tree
This vibrant activity is a great one for a family or preschool group - participants of all ages can work together to create the leaves which an older child or adult can then cut out and put together to form a tree
Hand Print Fall Tree
This project is one of Broogly's favorite - a great hand print activity for fall laden with autumn colors. But what makes it extra special is that kids don't just get to paint their hand - they get to paint their entire arm, making this a super fun project for toddlers and preschoolers!
Paper Bag Jack o Lantern
A Paper Bag Painted Orange and stuffed with newspaper is the basis of this jack o lantern craft
Salt Resist Painting
This is one of my favorite painting activities. Sprinkle salt over wet watercolors and watch interesting and beautiful textures and patterns appear. This is truly an activity for all ages - easy enough for preschoolers - but also plenty of potential for older artists too.
Watercolor Leaf Rubbing
These leaves are deceptively easy to create - even a preschooler can create them with minimal assistance.
Sailing Boat Collage
I created this project as a way to experiment with various paint techniques. I love the way that they turned out! This is not an activity to do in an afternoon - rather one to spread over a week or longer - each of the underlying "paintings" can be created separately in advance.
Bubble Wrap Corn Cobs
Printing with Bubble wrap makes patterns that look just like corn cobs - and it is so much fun.
Heart Sun Catchers
SO MUCH FUN! Grated crayons melted on wax paper make the best sun-catchers. Cut these into hearts to create gorgeous valentines decorations (or gifts)
Marshmallow Flowers
These Marshmallow Flowers are great as an unusual Valentines, Thank you or Mothers Day gift. Simple to make and delightful to receive
Puffy Snowmen
My kids had so much fun creating these puffy paint snowmen. The paint, puffs up as it dries.
Color Changing Flowers
Watch as flowers change colors before your eyes!! A great science project that gives a really visual demonstration of the way that plants use water.
Exploding Volcano
What could be more exciting than creating and exploding your own volcano? A craft and a science project combined!
Potato Prints
Potato prints are a classic kids project. The materials are cheap, the results are fantastic - what's not to love! At it's most simple you can just cut potatoes in half and use them as circular stamps. You can increase the fun by creating fun shapes as described below. The potatoes in the paint are wonderfully slippery making this a great sensory project too!
Watercolor Resist - Rubber Cement
When painted on watercolor paper, rubber cement will resist watercolor paints - keeping the paper underneath white. Simply rub off the cement when the paint is dry.
Rubber Cement Valentines
Make these beautiful Valentine cards by painting hearts onto watercolor paper using rubber cement and then painting.
Elmo Faces
This is a super easy project that younger kids can do and enjoy. My son was so proud of his elmo, he wanted to keep it beside his bed
Easter Chicks
These are a variation on the Easter Chicks that are on the activityvillage.co.uk. They used polystyrene eggs - we decided to dye real eggs.
Paper Skateboards
These super cool paper skateboards will get even the most reluctant boy excited about art. They also make fantastic greetings cards for the boys in your life - simply stick them to a folded piece of card!
Egg Cup Flower Canvas
I saw this incredible project on the Rakers Family Blog and thought it would be a great project for the kids to do for Grandma's Birthday. She LOVED it.
Tie Die Sharpie Eggs
Come Easter we are always looking for new and interesting ways to decorate our Easter eggs. This last Easter I came across this clever technique by "Housing a Forest" for dying eggs using sharpies and rubbing alcohol. They have some beautiful examples on their website.
Shiny Art: Embossed Foil Pics
Using Sharpies to color on foil makes shiny art. You can also create embossed edges to your pictures by using glue to trace an outline underneath the foil. This is an especially cool effect for pictures of fish as they glimmer as if they were rushing through the water!
Sun Prints
Sun Prints are fantastic fun. All you need is a pack of light sensitive paper and your imagination! This is a great project for young and old alike. Younger kids will be fascinated by the magic of this project. Older kids will be able to use their imaginations to create pictures from objects - and a great opportunity to talk about the science of light and photography too!
Glowing Glow Bugs
These super cute glow bugs had my children captivated. They were flying them round the yard for ages - and then they lined up on their shelf as night lights when they went to bed!
Summer Strawberry
Preschoolers will love this Summer Strawberry Project
Paper Plate Piggies
Perfect for a Farmyard Theme, or to make as a companion to reading the Three Little Pigs, these paper plate piggies are simple to make and oh so cute!
Handprint Christmas Tree
This makes a great gift or a lovely decoration that you can get out every Christmas to decorate your house. I made it on Canvas and it is a lovely memory of how tint winy my daughters hands were! She loves it when I put it up at Christmas
Homemade Sidewalk Chalk
Sidewalk Chalk is so much fun any time of year, but particularly in the summer. Making your own is super easy, way cheaper than the store bought options and kids of any age will enjoy helping out.
Popped Bubble Art
I've done this activity with my kids a few times now and it never fails to fascinate them - and me! Simply color bubble mix with food coloring and blow bubbles onto paper - as the bubbles land and pop, they create beautiful works of art. It goes without saying that this project is best done outdoors. A great one for those lazy summer afternoons.
Paper Bag Kite
These simple kites made out of paper bags really fly! Decorate using paint, markers or stickers, then take them to park or the beach and watch them soar.
Sand Hand Prints
This is a really cute project to do: a sand covered hand print! It's simple to do on the beach and makes a wonderful memory of your vacation. Older kids will be able to do this themselves.
Watermelon Popsicles
A fun, refreshing and super healthy treat for the kids - watermelon popsicles! These are straightforward to make with a little patience and are guaranteed to be popular with the whole family. Make them for National Watermelon Day - celebrated on August 3rd each year.
Monster Pencil Holders
These cute little monsters will keep your pencils in reach. Let your imaginations run wild to create weird and wonderful monsters of any shape and color out of air dry clay. A great project for boys to have on hand for a rainy day, as a back to school project or just as fun.
Flower Pencil Holders
These flower pencil holders made of air dry clay will brighten up the desk of any little girl. They also make great gifts for mothers day, for teacher appreciation or for Grandma's Birthday.
Popsicle Stick Desk Organiser
Fed up of having pens, crayons, paintbrushes and pencils all over the place? Want to get organized before the kids go back to school? Why not have them make this popsicle stick desk organizer. This is a great engineering project that is fun to do - and so very useful! Customize the hight to suit your need - a few inches high to hold erasers or clips, 3 or 4 inches to hold crayons, or taller for pencils and pens. You can leave it unpainted, paint the popsicle sticks before you assemble, or paint the finish project. The choice is yours! This would also make a great gift for a teacher, or even for Dad for his Birthday or on Fathers Day.
Dinosaur Fossils
Little dinosaur lovers and wannabe geologists will just LOVE creating these dinosaur fossils. The project is so easy that even older preschoolers can do it with a little help. A great project for a dinosaur theme in the classroom, to do with a small group at a dinosaur party, or just because!
Apple Prints
Little Kids will get a real kick out of this project - using a halved apple to make apple prints - along with leaf print leaves. It is a great craft project to welcome fall, to fill a letter A theme or for Back to School Activities. Just make sure you have extra apples so that you have some to munch on as well!
Stars n Stripes Pinwheels
Celebrate 4th July with these celebratory homemade pinwheels.
Apple Gift
Wrap a small jar of honey in red tissue paper, secure with twine, and add green leaves as gift tags and you have a wonderful gift. This is especially super for Teacher Appreciation and for the holiday of Rosh HaShanah. During this Jewish New Year holiday it is traditional to eat apple slices dipped in honey as a symbol of the desire for a sweet new year. It is traditional to give apples to teachers as gifts (a tradition dating back to the time when the community was often responsible for housing and feeding the teacher). You could replace the Honey with preserves.
Blown Bubble Prints
What child with a drink and a straw doesn't love blowing bubbles? Not exactly behavior that we're generally encouraging (it doesn't exactly go down well at the dinner table). Which is why toddlers and preschoolers will love this activity: using straws to blow LOTS of bubbles in soapy water colored with food coloring - and then making art by placing paper on top of the bubbles.
Moon Paintings
One of our favorite activities is using salt to create texture on watercolor paintings. In this activity Salt and Glue are used to turn a simple watercolor painting into the surface of the moon! Leave as is for a great Space themed project or add some black card silhouettes and you have a spooky Halloween picture.
Pumpkin Bowl Picture
These pumpkins have handprint leaves - a fantastic Halloween or Thanksgiving project to do at home with your preschooler or in a preschool classroom. It incorporates both sensory and fine motor elements: making hand prints, scrunching up paper bags, and cutting and gluing yarn.
Lemon!
Once finished these lemons feel (to touch) remarkably like real lemons, which is cool! And also makes this a great sensory project for preschoolers: touch (texture), sight (vibrant yellow colors) and taste - because it is just wrong not to accompany this activity with either a wedge of lemon to explore or a small glass of lemonade!
Tissue Paper Painted Fall Leaves
Toddlers and Preschoolers will love this autumn project. Simply pile small pieces of torn tissue paper onto a sheet of paper and spray with water. The colors from the tissue paper will bleed onto the paper and will merge, mingle and blend to make beautiful subtle patterns. Using fall colored tissue paper (reds oranges and yellows) and cutting out the finished art work into leaf shapes makes beautiful fall leaves. Mount the leaves onto a paper branch for a beautiful fall picture.
Acorn Cinnamon Sun Catchers
These Suncatchers bring the best of fall to your room - they look pretty and the cinnamon used in the project makes your house smell great too! A perfect project to do with toddlers or preschoolers who will enjoy sprinkling the cinnamon.
Pumpkin Suncatchers
Brighten up your windows this Halloween with these cheerful Jack-o-Lantern Suncatchers. They are made using pony beads, arranged and melted in tins.
Splatter Paintings - Pollock Style
Jackson Pollock was made famous for producing art from splatter's of paint. It's not uncommon to hear people viewing his art say - "my kids could do that". In this project, you let your kids try to do just that - and you will be amazed by the results. The finished artwork will be probably be worthy of a space on your living room wall. But, the best part of this project is the process - it is truly a means for self expression. There is something incredibly therapeutic about watching the art emerge as you splash the paint onto the canvas. Just be sure to do it outside with where the mess is ok, and wear clothes you don't mind being covered in paint!
Egg Carton Owl
These owls made from egg cartons have tremendous character and can be put together very easily. Children will love painting the egg cartons and adding the feathers. A great project for fall to make a change from leaves - or do anytime to support a letter "O" theme - or just because! Using white feathers and dabbing on brown paint makes a wonderfully realistic mottled feather effect. But you could also use colored feathers for a brighter an owl.
Glittery Leaves
If it's damp and wet outside, don't fear, you can make your own amazing autumn leaves by painting brown paper bags. We sponge painted with several colors of metallic tempura paint and added veins made out of glitter for a beautiful shining look. Older children will enjoy creating their own color designs, and leaf shapes but don't overlook this project for the preschoolers. Younger kids will have great success sponge painting - and once 4/5 can even attempt to cut out the leaves themselves. They'll just need some help creating the veins.
Cheerful Fall Tree
Creating your own fall tree can be super fun - and although this one looks time consuming it's really easy to put together. What's more, all the members of your family can take part making the leaves. This would be a great group project in a preschool or kindergarten classroom as you could create a class tree with leaves from each child. The leaves can be as small or large as you like - and so can the tree!
Pine Cone Owl
These adorable pine cone owls are a fun autumn craft for kids of any age. You can combine this craft with a nature hike to find the pine cones, acorn cups and leaves used in the activity.
Canvas wall picture 3D bufferflies and flowers
This makes a lovely picture for the wall. I wanted a project that my daughter and I could do together and keep. Would also make a great project to do for Mothers Day, or as a gift for Grandma.
Glowing Christmas Trees
Made from just glue and tissue paper, these Christmas Trees will sparkle and glow when you place an LED tealight inside. They make wonderful centerpieces for a Christmas Table. (NOTE: Do not use a real flame under these trees, use battery operated LED tealights only)
Painting in the Rain
This project is the perfect way to brighten up a grey and gloomy rainy day by using the rain itself to create beautiful artwork. What better excuse to don those raincoats and rainboots and combine making art with some puddle stomping! No rain? Just use a watering can with a fine nozzle, or a spray water bottle to create the same effect.
Mondrian by Kids
These incredibly simple paintings in the style of Dutch Painter Piet Mondrian are a great way to get kids involved in learning about abstract art and the beauty of simple geometric images. The creation of the series of squares and rectangles is surprisingly satisfying and the creative process very rewarding. This project is ideal for elementary age kids and even older preschoolers can easily have a go. Older children may prefer to create their black outlines using rulers and black pen. That way the width of the lines can be varied.
Gelatin Printing Adventure
This project is seriously addictive! The process is extremely fun and interactive. And the results are amazing. In other words this is a great introduction to print making for kids - and one that even smaller kids can do and enjoy. First, you make a gelatin plate. This is quite straightforward and basically involves creating a slab of firm gelatin: a process that is fun for older kids to help with. then you have fun applying paint to the plate, and using everyday objects as brushes and stencils to ensure that when you place the paper over the top of the plate to make print, you get fantastic results. Note: don't be put off by the wordy instructions - the procedure is actually very quick and easy once you get the hang of it!