Easy crafting ideas for Kids To Do Together

Easy crafting ideas for kids to do together. For years I have easy crafts for kids with own my children. They were always involved in projects with me. Now the children are grown and they have kids of their own. Each summer I have the joy of having my grand children visit for the summer. Having seven grandchildren varying in ages, I plan activities and crafts well in advance. This summer is no different, I spend the winter months planning for their visit and have a plastic storage container which I take up to the cottage each summer filled with quick and easy crafts I can do with them. This is how I got the reputation for being the FUN "grandmama" as they call me.

This year I came up with a new craft I think everyone will love. I purchased wooden peg people for all of us to paint and them play with once they are complete. The people peg blanks are easy to find and resemble the old style little people my children enjoyed when they were kids The second part of the plan is to create structures from old cardboard boxes. Houses, stores, gardens, and cars are what I will suggest we make and this should inspire some creativity.

Since the cottage is small, we set up a 17 foot screen tent to keep us outdoors and away from the mosquitoes. We have a large table, mini-fridge, and a table for preparing food. They always need something to eat or drink, so rather than having them come in and out of the cabin we keep goodies in in the refrigerator and a large plastic storage bin with quick snacks inside the screen tent.

One of the older kids downloaded a photo and painted this one using it for the pattern. There are many examples on pinterest if you need some ideas.

Here are a few items you need to begin you crafts with kids. If you are a crafter you may only need to purchase a bag full of wooden people blanks,

When ever we get the kids doing a craft it turns out to be fun for the whole family. It make no difference if theyare simple or advanced it seems everyone gets into the act. I expect that each time I plan a craft for the children and always make sure there are enough supplies for all of us to do one for ourselves.

I like to paint the peg people and will show the kids a sample of one of my finished project before they start. However, I don't want to stunt their individual creativity by insisting that everybody does the same thing. For the younger kids I will have markers, if they choose not to use the paint. But as a teacher I know that each child needs to do their own thing. I will only lend suggestion if one of them asks. This helps to develop the creative side of the mind and any suggestions I make might stop them in their creativity. Art projects for children should be fun and not work.

There is a wide variety of peg people shapes on the market they can be purchased in bags with sets of family members. Worker with hats are available and some come in various shapes, such and dresses on girls and straight designs for painting on pants.

I use standard craft paint and then have sharpies if they need to make small details that might be too hard to achieve with a paint brush in unskilled hands. Always let the child do their own work to give them the opportunity to try first they can always repaint the area and start again. Some children are persistent in their attempts and won't be able to quite until they get it right, while others just want to complete the project

Yes, it looks like fun.

When making crafts with children it is important to understand that their are no mistakes. With this project it can always be redone. Some adults have a hard time with the imperfections of the end result and may be tempted to redo the painting for the child. Don't be one of those people, children need to learn to accept limitations as this gives them opportunities for grow and development of skills.

There are several ways to begin this project, first you may want to trace the wood peg on to paper and let the children experiment with their designs, or you might want to just let them paint the design and see what happens. Either way keep in mind this is meant to be fun!

If the children are going to paint without a plan on paper it would be wise to have them use a pencil to draw lines where they plan to paint each detail. Let them trace out the hair, the clothing and facial features, this will give them a better sense of where to applied the paint or marker. The details can be as simple or as complex as the child wants to get. No rules, just craft for fun.

The Steps for Wood Peg People:

1. Plan a design

2. Draw design on to wood peg with a pencil.

3. Paint or fill-in details with markers. (washable markers are fine)

4. Spray or paint on clear gloss to seal design and make for easy sanitizing.