With the long summer holidays enticing children to mischief, involving them in making fun and colorful frugal kid crafts can be a good distraction, and a wonderful source of entertainment that they will simply love. As parents, making these items with your children can be a great way to spend quality time with them while encouraging their creativity and imagination to shine. Such activities will also teach them the value of things early in life and make them aware of the importance of recycling for the health of our environment. Here are some inexpensive, green craft ideas for your kids. All of them use recycled items from around the house, and some cheap crafting materials.
1. Fun Jigsaw Puzzles
Jigsaw puzzles make for a great, cheap way of having endless hours of fun. Children will love to make their own puzzles and then enjoy spending time piecing them all together.
Supplies
- Cardboard
- Glue
- Scissors
- Old magazines or cards
Instructions
- Give each kid a piece of cardboard, glue and scissors.
- Let them select a colorful picture from a magazine or a card. Have them cut it out neatly and stick it firmly on the cardboard.
- Once the glue dries, you can have your kids draw puzzle shapes on the blank side of the cardboard.
- The next step involves precision, so be around to supervise young kids. Let the kids cut the cardboard along the lines they have drawn on the back of the cardboard. They might require some assistance if the lines are too curvy or the cardboard is too thick.
- Once they have finished cutting all the pieces they will have an eco-friendly jigsaw puzzle to play with.
- If you have more than one kid have them each make their own, and make sure they all make a different jigsaw puzzle. When they are done they can exchange the bits and have a competition to see which of them completes the puzzle first.
- Make sure to save the pieces of each cardboard in different bags to avoid mixing up.
Children of all ages love jigsaw puzzles. They also offer a great introduction to shape recognition and problem solving.
2. Attractive Greeting Card Gift Tags
Do not throw away those old birthday and Christmas cards. Let your children transform them into lovely gift tags which the entire family can use.
Supplies
- Old greeting cards
- Pen
- Ribbon
- Scissors
- Hole puncher
Instructions
- Have your kids select pictures from old greeting cards that they would like to use. Neatly cut the picture. Make sure the back of the picture is blank and has enough space to fill in names when you attach them on gifts.
- Punch a hole on one side of the picture and insert a ribbon through it.
- Tie it into a loop, and it is ready to use!
No longer will you need to spend money on buying gift tags. Add a special touch to your holiday packages with these easy-to-make, cheap and creative tags.
3. Homemade Piggy Bank
Here is an exciting way to encourage your children to save money. Get together with them to make a piggy bank to store all those hard-earned pennies.
Supplies
- A plastic bottle with a wide mouth
- Glue
- Colored paper
- Newspaper
Instructions
- Clean the bottle and let it dry.
- Next, use glue and newspaper to cover the bottle. Once it is dry, paste colored paper on top of the newspaper. Press well and ensure a smooth finish.
- Once it dries completely, use paints, ribbon, lace etc to give the piggy bank some pizzaz.
- You can also use any old can or container instead of a plastic bottle. Most moms report that a cute piggy bank is just the right motivation for their little ones to start saving.
4. Playful Wind Chime
Turn paper plates or old cans into a charming piece of art that makes gentle music in the breeze!
Supplies
- A paper plate/can
- Colorful paint
- Paintbrush
- Chopped colored drinking straws
- Colorful beads
- Scissors
- Some string
- Hole punch
Instructions
- Cut the string in sizes of 4″ to 6″ and set aside.
- Paint the paper plate in bright colors and let it dry. Once it is dry, punch some evenly spaced holes on the paper.
- Load each string with colorful straws and beads. Slip each string through a hole in the plate and knot it in place.
- Additionally, make four holes on the outer edge of the plate, which will be used for hanging the chimes. Insert strings through each of them and tie a knot. Make sure the string with beads and the string for hanging are on the opposite sides of the plate.
- Hold the four strings together, make a single knot and put it up. Your wind chime is ready!
You can get really creative with this project and use different ideas to make a stylish wind chime. Kids will love spending hours coming up with something that can be used as a chic decoration piece.
5. Make-believe Binoculars
With a pair of fun binoculars, your little explorers are ready to embark on a spying adventure of their own. It is super easy for kids to make them and takes very little time.
Supplies
- 2 paper rolls (4″-5″ in length)
- Hole punch
- String
- Glue
- Paint
- Colored paper
Instructions
- Take the paper rolls and let your kids decorate them any way they like. They can either paint them in bright colors or cut a piece of colored paper and wrap them around the paper rolls. They can also use stickers to beautify the rolls.
- After they are done decorating the rolls, stick the two together with the glue, so they resemble a pair of binoculars.
- Next, make a hole on either side of the binoculars and tie a string through the holes, so your kids can wear them around their neck.
- Send your kids to your backyard for a fun summer hunt and help them spot some birds and creepy crawlies!
In this electronic era, it is not easy to wean kids away from the television and the computer, more so when they are on a vacation and have little to do. These frugal kid crafts ideas can keep them happily busy for the entire summer. The prospect of getting together with you to use their hands and creativity to create lovely pieces of work can get them all excited and looking forward to their holidays again.
© Can Stock Photo Inc. / mandygodbehear
© Can Stock Photo Inc. / PurpleQueue