A recent study by one Dr. Richard Rende reveals how creative interaction with your young children—such as engaging them in arts and crafts—provides immediate and lasting cognitive benefits that can help in their development. Kids craft activities like bubble painting and other DIY craft projects are great activities to try with your little ones. Below we have listed some unique and creative projects you can make even with simple household products.

IMPORTANT: These projects can get pretty messy, pretty quickly. So before starting them, be sure to shield your home’s surfaces with Protect.It Pads from Danco. It provides mess-free protection for your floors, sink, and tabletops, protecting them from spills. These pads make clean-up easy, too.

Bird Seed Ornaments

Making bird seed treats is a great way to teach children how to be kind to wildlife and at the same time create some DIY craft ornaments to hang outside the home.  

For these birdseed ornaments, you will need:

  •  4 cups of birdseed
  • A half-cup of warm water
  • 1 packet of gelatine mix
  • ¾ cup of flour
  • a bundt pan
  • non-stick spray, and
  • 3 tablespoons of light corn syrup.

Mix everything and mold into shape. Let the pressed-in mixture dry for a few hours before popping out so they can dry completely over a full day. Tie each piece with a ribbon and you are ready to hang the delicious ornaments for birds to ole and feed at.

Microwave Puffy Paint

This is the perfect kids craft for the rainy days, you can create paintings that puff up when put in the microwave with a simple mixture of flour, baking powder, salt and food coloring.

To make paint that puffs up, mix together a cup of flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, and a teaspoon of salt along with enough water to create a pancake-batter like consistency.

Divide the mixture into enough equal parts in Ziploc baggies (icing bags will also work) and add in your desired colors.

Seal the colors with rubber bands and snip off the tip of each bag to let the paint flow.

Paint some fun pictures on paper and pop them into the microwave for about 3 to 45 seconds and watch the magic happen!

Bubble Painting

Although bubble painting has quite a high messy potential, it also scores high on the fun meter. Who doesn’t love a good time with colorful bubbles?

The supplies you will need for this project are also pretty simple: dish soap, washable paint, cups, paper, and straw. While white construction paper will do, watercolor paper is a better option if you want to better preserve your creations, as they hold up to wetness way better than thinner paper.

Mix a cup of water with a generous amount of both paint and dish soap. Keep an extra close eye on youngsters who may find the colorful liquids too enticing to sip, even when using non-toxic ingredients.

Once the mixtures are done, begin blowing colored bubbles directly onto the sheets of paper or use an easier technique by blowing into the cup of paint, water, and dish soap and creating colorful bubble mountains that you can lay your paper on top of to create an imprint.

Pour Painted Flower Pots

Pour painting is a pretty simple project that can be applied on most anything—and great for letting kids unleash their creativity.

If you want to add some color to your drab-looking garden pots, simply get tubes or bottles of acrylic paint ready for pouring and along with your flower pots. Turn the pots bottom-side up over some bricks or perhaps a wire rack (or something that resembles a cooling rack) so you can let paint drip freely.

Tape up the holes on the bottom of the pot and begin pouring paint. Create patterns or abstract designs with the colors and allow the paint to drip.

Let the pots dry completely before using them for planting.

Monster Truck Painting

Give kids art supplies, let their imagination roam free, and you’ll get pretty interesting results. This is exactly what one DIY craft mom proved when her boys accidentally discovered a new fun way to paint on canvas—a happy accident, that is!

When left out with some paint, brushes, and a blank canvas, her crafty children went on to paint the wheels of their toy trucks, and then used them to paint on their artwork. The resulting patterns and textures are awesome. Trying it!

Tissue Paper and Paper Plate Turtle

Crafts with Kids

Who isn’t mesmerized by overlapping, vibrant colors? This tissue paper and paper plate turtle kids craft is just as beautiful as it is fun and exciting to make.

Here’s what you need to make this stained-glass inspired turtle craft:

  • 1-inch colored tissue paper squares
  • school glue
  • googly eyes
  • scissors
  • paper plates
  • green marker
  • black marker
  • paper plates
  • paintbrush
  • double-sided tape
  • some glitter, and
  • paper plate turtle template.

To begin, gather all your materials and supplies. Spread glue over the bulging bottom of the paper plate and cover it with your tissue paper squares, folding the tissue paper underneath when getting to the edge or the rim of the plate.

Sprinkle glitter over the tissue squares while the glue is still wet. color and cut out the paper plate turtle template and glue the eyes to the turtle’s head.

Draw a nose and a mouth on the face of the turtle using your black marker. Secure the turtle head, tail, and legs onto their proper position around the rim of the paper plate using double-sided tape and repeat the process until you have enough colorful turtles to play with your child.

Ladybug Rocks 
Crafts with Kids on the Weekend!

Ladybug rugs are pretty simple and incredibly easy craft projects you can do with your kids. In fact, the trickiest part of this activity is probably sourcing out materials, which can sometimes be difficult to find—particularly outdoor paint, which is ideal if you want to leave your finished ladybug décor out and exposed to the elements.

Apart from outdoor paint, you will need river rocks, which are typically sold in craft stores. If you can find river rocks, and smooth rock, preferably round or oval in shape would do.

You will also need a paintbrush, toothpick, and outdoor sealer or perhaps an outdoor mod podge.

To make your lady bug rocks, start by washing and drying the rocks. Once dry, paint them with your colors of choice. Paint on a blackhead and use the wrong end of the paintbrush to make perfect dots that will serve as ladybug spots on the rocks. Dot on white eyes and use a toothpick to add on details. Once all the paint is dry, coat your ladybugs with a sealer or your outdoor mod podge.