Crafting with your kids is a great way to spend quality time together. It's not only fun but fosters imaginative creations.

Coming up with ideas can sometimes be challenging, however, it can also be as simple as rummaging around the house for items you can reuse and recycle.

Below you will find a few fun, easy kids crafts that even the smallest little fingers can create.

Plastic Containers: Recycled plastic bottles are excellent items to use in the creation of all kinds of fun crafts. They can be used to create snow globes or summer globes. Fill half of a small plastic bottle with clear oil and the other with water. Add objects according to your theme, if for instance you want to create an underwater theme, you could add blue food coloring, glitter, pebbles and small
plastic fish. Trust me, small children will love to play with these for hours.

Empty Paper Towel Tubes: Cardboard tubes can be used to create all kinds of crafts, but the most popular way of using up these leftovers is by creating rain-sticks. Supplies include the following:

• Masking tape

• Paper towel tubes

• Tempera paint

• Elmer’s glue or other white craft glue

• Rice, lentils, or small beans

• Bamboo skewers

You'll want to first paint your tubes in your color of choice. Allow to dry completely. Using a bamboo skewer (or any other pointy object), poke several tiny holes into your painted tube.

Cover one end securely with masking or duct tape and let your child add the various materials, be creative. Once your formula has been determined, cover up the other end and enjoy!

You would be amazed how many items are laying around the house that can be easily converted into fun, easy kids crafts. Empty egg cartons can be made into bells or tulips, foil can be reused by washing it and turning into picture frames and old newspaper is perfect for paper mache projects.

You can also recyle baby food jars into snow globes or candle holders and tin cans are perfect for starting an herb container garden. How about creating sock puppets or collages out of magazines. Coffee cans can be painted and turned into a bank and rocks can be painted into little critters.

Encouraging your children to use their imagination will help develop future ideas. Try challenging them to create many crafts using one principal object such as a paper bag, an old t-shirt or a plastic bottle. Kids are very adaptable and you will be amazed on what they can conjure up.