Just Say ‘no’ to Boredom and ‘yes’ to Creativity: 5 Irresistibly Fun Crafts for Kids and the Whole Family

Looking for fun activities to do with your kids during the cold winter months? Look no further! Read on for fun crafts for kids and parents alike.

To a child, the right craft or game isn’t just something to occupy their time, it’s a key to unlock the door that is their imaginations. By promoting these activities and doing them with your child, you can help them open these doors, and get them interested in other subjects.

For example, building a tornado in a jar can introduce them to science and make them excited to learn more. A memorization game can increase their ability to process information. We’re going to go over some more of these games and crafts for kids, tell you how they can help your child, and give you a little bit of information on how to set them up.  

1. Games that Promote Science

There are many crafts that a child can partake in that can bring out their inner scientist. With a little help from a parent, they can open a galaxy of wonder and questions.  

Water and Oil Experiment

The water and oil experiment is a simple activity that can act as a beginner’s guide to polarity and density. You just need water, cups, food coloring, cooking oil, and a shallow bowl.

Add a few drops of food coloring to water and pour them into a shallow bowl that contains the oil. Let the child observe and ask questions while the experiment is taking place.

Tornado in a Jar

Bring the forces of nature to life in the form of a jar that your child can carry around with them. Fill up a jar just about all the way with cold water, add a few squirts of soap to make the foggy effect of clouds, and then put in a cap full of vinegar.

When the child swirls the jar around, they’ll be able to see a tornado form right in front of their eyes in the safest way possible.

2. Crafts that promote Art

Help your child get a head start in their art classes in school by sitting down with them and doing a few of these fun crafts.  

Bookworm Pencil Toppers

You can help your child have something fun to look at while they’re doing their nightly homework with bookworm pencil toppers.

All you need are pipe cleaners, googly eyes, glue, and your child’s pencil. You’ll tightly wind one end of the pipe cleaner to create the worm’s head, then wrap the rest of it around the pencil to make the body. After that hot glue gun, a googly eye to its head.

Holiday Arts and Crafts

Nothing is more precious during the holidays than seeing your child fill with pride when you display their decorations. You can set a bunch of little tealight reindeer around your home for example.

Cut a hole in a ping-pong ball and place it over a tealight, add eyes, a nose, and antlers made of brown paper. Your child will also love seeing their ornaments added to your tree.

You can make these by having them glue a shape out of pasta, painting the pasta gold, and finishing it off with twine.

3. Ways to Make Their Own Jewelry

Kids love wearing and sharing jewelry that they have made themselves. Help them have fun making bracelets for all of their friends, you included.

Create a Lanyard

Often times, a child will need an ID when they go to school. If not an ID, something they can carry their house keys on. To this end, you can help them make their own lanyards.

Have them pick out a thick ribbon, add a clip, and then sew both ends of the ribbon to create the lanyard. If you want to skip out on the craft because they can’t really participate, you can have them create a custom lanyard on LanyardsUSA.

Paper Bracelets

For this one, you’ll have your child paint paper in the designs and colors that they like. Once that’s done, it will be cut in enough strips to cover your child’s wrist.

They will continue to fold the strips over each other until they have a bracelet. Close the bracelet off by tucking one end of it into the pocket of the other.

4. Activities to Get Them Moving

Are you worried that your child isn’t getting enough exercise? You can create fun activities that will be sure to get them on their feet.

Water Balloon Batting

This will happen exactly like it sounds. You’ll combine water balloons with baseball by setting up a baseball game but instead of baseballs, they’ll have water balloons.

It’s the perfect way for them to keep cool and still play outside on a hot summer day. Set up a bucket of water balloons and hand them plastic bats. Don’t forget the sunscreen.  

5. Enhance Their Memory

Games and activities actually have their way of increasing your child’s memory power. You could do this with a traditional memory game using flashcards, or you could put a little spin on it.

Shell Memory Game

You can get decorative shells from a department store, or have them collect them on their own on during a beach trip. Once you have your materials, it’s time to grab a sharpie.

Write down numbers on the bottom of the shells, and have them flip them over. If they are able to match the numbers, then they stay bottoms up. If they don’t get it right, they flip them back down and try again.

Fun Crafts for Kids and Parents

Learning about different crafts for kids and helping them create them, can open the doors to their imagination. Help them make fun ornaments for the holidays, let them have at it with water balloon baseball, or make paper jewelry for their friends. The list is endless.

If you liked these neat craft ideas, you’ll love our other DIYs. Go here to check out more of our craft articles.