Arts & Crafts Ideas for a Young Child
Kids of all ages love to create, and crafts that are useful or decorative can give them a real sense of accomplishment. It's not always easy to come up with arts and craft ideas that young children can do. If your child is at least four years old, here are a few things he can make with very little help, using some food coloring or safe art supplies, kitchen paper products and a few more simple items from the craft store or around the house.
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Egg Carton Bells
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This craft can be a Christmas tree decoration, a "doorbell" for your child's bedroom door, a dinner bell for your kitchen or simply a pretty knickknack for your bookshelf or mantle.
Cut an egg carton so that each cup is separate, and poke a hole in the bottom of each cup with a pencil or scissors. Let your child decorate the cups using a paintbrush and food coloring mixed with some water, or watercolor paints or markers.
If you want the bell to sparkle, mix glitter into the paint or into some white glue. Then help your child "paint" a layer of glue over the whole bell after the paint dries, which will make it shine and give a protective coating.
Cut a piece of string, colored yarn or narrow ribbon about 6 inches long and tie a jingle bell from the craft store onto one end. Dab some glue on the knot to hold it tight so your child doesn't pull off the bell. Thread the string through the hole in the bottom of the egg carton cup from the inside, and pull it until the bell hits the top of the cup. Tie another knot on the outside of the egg carton cup to hold the bell in place.
Tie a loop in the rest of the string, and let your child hang it on the Christmas tree or his door knob. To make a musical door chime, have him make several bells and tie them to the bottom of a clothes hanger. Then hang it on a door so the bells ring every time it's opened.
Tie-Dye Butterfly Magnet
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Spread flat a basket style coffee filter. Mix various colors of food coloring with a bit of water in separate containers, or separate cups in a muffin tin, and let your child drop them one by one onto the coffee filter with a paint brush or eyedropper. Or, let him color the coffee filter with water-based markers, and then spray the finished design with a spray bottle of water. The colors will spread out and mix together, like a tie-dye pattern.
Once the coffee filter is dry, pinch it together in the middle so you end up with what looks like two butterfly wings, and secure it by wrapping a pipe cleaner around it. Bring both ends of the pipe cleaner up to make the butterfly's antenna by curving them out in a V-shape.
Glue the butterfly to a clothes pin, with the clip at the bottom, and glue a magnet to the back of the clothes pin. Let your child stick the butterfly to your fridge to hold messages or his drawings.
Colored Sand Art
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Pour a few handfuls of sand into a zippered sandwich bag. Let your child choose a color of food coloring, and put just a couple of drops into the bag with the sand. Don't add too much, or the sand will get too wet. Have your child shake the bag until the sand is evenly colored, and pour it out into a container, then repeat with other colors.
Have your child draw a picture on construction paper, and then outline it with glue and sprinkle the colored sand onto the glue. He can use his hand to sprinkle it on, or you can put the colored sand into unused salt and pepper shakers for him.
When the artwork is dry, put it in a frame or hang it on the fridge with his butterfly magnet.
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