15 Things Kids Can Collect for Free and What to do With Them

Not only do kids have fun collecting things, it also helps them with developing different skills. Just the collecting part is good for teaching them organization. Once collected, they can use their imagination to make crafts or hone in on their learning skills.

It's also a great way for adults to spend some quality time with kids who are important to them. Below are some simple items kids can collect and some suggestions on what to do with their collections.

If your child enjoys the outdoors there are plenty of things to collect when you go to the park or on a hiking trail. I suggest bringing a bag with you to carry their findings and keep them safe until you get home. Here are some items to look for.

Rocks

Rocks are easy to find and come in all different shapes and sizes making them interesting to collect. Kids can display their rocks as is or do something crafty with them. For example, they can paint them all different colors. If you have red and black paint, they can turn rocks into ladybugs or make make rocks into faces by using googly eyes and paint for the nose and mouth.

Feathers

Feathers are beautiful to collect and a nice way to show off a feather collection is to take an empty egg carton, turn it upside down and paint it. Once dry, stick feathers into the upside down cups. You can also make a mobile out of feathers or use colored duct tape to tape them on the end of pencils.

Flowers

Flowers can be pressed in order to save them. Place a flower between two paper towels and put this in the middle of a heavy book. Check the flower after 24 hours and put it between two fresh paper towels. The idea is to take all of the moisture out of the flower. Once dried, flowers can be kept in a scrapbook or used to make pretty stationery.

Pine Cones

Pine cones are already pretty to start with, but kids can make them even prettier by painting them. For an extra fancy touch, add some glitter on the tips. These can make for some very nice decorations during the holidays. Kids can also take small pine cones, paint and decorate them, them glue a loop of yarn on the bottom and hang them up as decorations.

Acorns

Acorns are fun and easy to paint and once painted, can be left as is or if your child is really young, the colored acorns can be used for color sorting to help teach colors. They can also be used to help teach simple adding and subtracting.

There are plenty of things kids can collect just from around the house. Simple, everyday items can turn into some fun crafts and toys for children.

Toilet Paper Rolls

Something as simple as empty toilet paper rolls can become toys just waiting to happen. Take a roll, put dry beans inside, tape the ends and you have a musical instrument. Take two empty rolls, paint them, then tape them together side by side and you have play binoculars. Decorate several empty rolls, then run some yarn through them to create a colorful necklace.

Empty Water Bottles

Take empty water bottles and have kids fill them with tap water. Add some food coloring to each one for a collection of colored bottles. While you only get four colors with food dye, you can mix the colors to create additional colors. For a game, line up ten empty bottles in a diamond shape, give kids a small ball and let them go bowling.

Pictures From Magazines

Cut out pictures from magazines and let kids make a photo collage. You can just do pictures in general or make a theme. For example, girls might enjoy fashion pictures while boys could like pictures of cars. Both would most likely enjoy pictures of animals. In addition, they can take travel pictures and make them into travel brochures.

Empty Plastic Jars

Empty plastic jars like peanut butter jars can be used as decorative containers. Let kids paint and decorate them, then they can be used for a variety of things such as a toothpaste holder, pencil holder, piggy bank or trinket holder.

Stamps From Mail

There's such a diversity in stamps these days and it's easy to cut them off of envelopes for kids to collect. I suggest using a small photo album to keep them in.

Helping kids collect things and figuring out what to do with them is such a great way for a child to use their imagination. Here are some more items to consider.

Take Out Menus

If you have a child who likes to play with play food, then take out menus could be really fun as each time the child wants to "cook," the child can hand out menus for people to order from and if you have a variety of menus, they can cook something different each time.

Popsicle Sticks

Keep those popsicle sticks for the kids and let them have fun with them as there are so many things they can do with them. For example, take 12 sticks and temporarily tape them together. Paint a picture on the sticks and when it dries, take the sticks apart and kids have a jigsaw puzzle.

Popsicle sticks can be used for a variety of crafts such as decorating one and using it as bookmark or gluing sticks together to create picture frames.

Seashells

If you go to the beach seashells are a wonderful thing to collect. They come in such a nice variety of shapes and they're easy to display on something as simple as a plate. You can also use them to make a mosaic or use small ones to decorate other items.

Coins

Have your kids keep an eye out for coins on the ground. They can keep these coins displayed on a tray in their room or fill an empty plastic jar with them like you would a piggy bank. Not only does the child get to collect something, they're saving money at the same time.

Ticket Stubs

Kids can save ticket stubs from different events they attend like movies, sports games, plays, etc. If you have digital tickets, you can print them out. Use the ticket stubs to create a memory book of all the fun activities that child was able to attend.

The above are just some ideas to get you started with things kids can collect for free and what they can do with their treasures once they collect them. Collecting things with kids is such a wonderful way to spend time together and have fun at the same time.