Easy Kids Crafts for Ages 0-6
Young children, 6-years-old and under, are often brilliantly creative. These are crucial years in their development, when crafts and activities that exercise brain, hand and eye coordination are very important. Kids not only love crafts, they thrive on the positive reinforcement of creating something with their own little hands.
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Nutty Sail Boats
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Pretty handmade boats floating in tiny, fishbowl ponds are fascinating for preschool children to watch. Building their own boats is a quick and simple craft that keeps young kids occupied for hours. To build a nutty boat, you will need empty half-walnut shells, colorful leaves, twigs and handmade salt-dough or other self-drying clay. Thread a leaf onto a small twig to make a mast and sail. Roll a tiny ball of clay and stick it in the center of a half-walnut shell. Insert the mast and leaf sail into the ball of clay. Let the clay dry overnight. Make a bunch of nutty boats with different colored leaves and race them.
Polka Dot Styrofoam Eggs in a Basket
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Paint a plain straw basket with acrylic paint. For a rainbow effect, apply dabs of blue, yellow, green and pink paint onto the basket. Rub the paint all over the basket with moistened paper towels, swirling the colors together. A damp sponge may be used to daub the paint on instead of paper towels, for a different effect. Set the basket aside to dry. To make the eggs, you'll need Styrofoam eggs in assorted sizes, masking tape, a paintbrush, acrylic paint, glitter paint sticks and a moist paper towel. Cut the masking tape into 1-inch pieces. Layer the tape onto the eggs, overlapping it. You can press it to smooth it down, or just leave it bumpy as you work across the egg's surface. When the egg is completely covered in masking tape, dab on small globs of paint with the brush. Rub the paint over the egg with a moist paper towel. Make polka dots all over the eggs with glitter paint sticks. Set the eggs aside to dry. Fill your painted baskets with the colorful, sparkling eggs to display on tables at Easter or anytime.
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Fancy Styrofoam Aliens
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To create a family of aliens dressed to the nines -- mama, papa and two kids -- you'll need two small Styrofoam eggs and two large Styrofoam eggs, glue, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, a felt tip marker and yarn. Poke holes, one in the outside edge of each corner of the bottom of each egg. Apply a few dots of glue around the inside rim of each hole. Twist four pipe cleaners to make them wiggly-looking and insert them into the holes on each egg for the legs. Glue one googly eye in the middle of each egg's forehead. Draw a smile on each egg with a felt tip marker. Make a hat with a curled pipe cleaner for the papa alien and glue it on. Glue strands of yarn onto the mama alien's head for hair. Duplicate the hat and hair in smaller versions for the two alien kids. Make polka dots or stripes on each alien's legs or body with different colored glitter paint sticks to dress them up.
Decoupage Crafts
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Decoupage has flourished as an art and craft since the Victoria era. An absorbing pastime for children and adults alike, it only requires a decoupaging medium such as Mod Podge, paper images and designs, blunt-edged paper scissors, a paint brush or sponge and some imagination. For young children, preschool and kindergarten age, decoupage opens a world of creativity. Load the craft table with a pile of old magazines, greeting cards, wrapping paper or tissue paper and have kids select and cut out or tear out their favorite images. A variety of objects are perfect for decoupage, such as small cardboard boxes, pencils, book covers, binders, plastic animals, CD cases, table tops; anything that doesn't move is fair game. Let the kids choose different projects for every day of the week. Apply glue to the images and place them on the surface of an object. Continue gluing and pasting images until there are no bare spaces left. Let the object dry. Apply several coats of Mod Podge or acrylic sealer to finish your project.
Painted Turtles
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Making painted turtles begins with a treasure hunt for the perfect stone for the turtle's shell. Look for a round stone about 2 inches in diameter and at least 1 inch high. Cut two wooden craft sticks or spoons in half. Attach two pieces to each side of another uncut craft spoon or stick with glue. Glue the rock on top of the craft sticks in the center where the legs join. Decorate the turtle by painting the legs with acrylic paint. Make a patchwork design on the turtle's back with different colors of acrylic paint. Add glitter paint polka dots or stripes and a pair of googly eyes to finish. Younger children can make this craft with help from an adult, and 5 and 6-year-olds may be able to make the craft on their own.
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