Free arts and crafts ideas for families are a cheap and easy way of doing something enjoyable together. A good mental activity can help the kids to express how they are feeling through being creative.
© Tomsickova Tatyana / Shutterstock.com
Benefits of arts and crafts
While the children aren't at school, arts and crafts activities can help with their physical and social development.
Arts and crafts involve developing fine motor skills, as most projects involve using the hands and fingers, thus improving muscle strength and controlling movements. Kids' agility, manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination will improve with practice. The younger they start, the better!
Taking part in arts and crafts will give children a sense of achievement, boosting their self-esteem. It's a great way of letting them express themselves, and it will help them to bring out their hidden emotions. This is particularly beneficial for introverted children.
Their energy is channelled into positive endeavours, giving them a chance to socialise and build better relationships with loved ones. When parents and children do arts and crafts projects together, it can help to strengthen the family bond.
Creating new things makes children think more and come up with innovative ideas. Even with simple projects, they can learn about different colours, shapes and patterns. With more complex activities, they can visualise the design and consider the best way of completing their project. This teaches children they can achieve a result through different means – a useful life lesson.
Read on for some handy tips on some free family arts and crafts ideas...
- Pinecone bird feeders
This is such a simple activity that even very young children can enjoy taking part in. All you need are some large, open pinecones, twine, peanut butter and birdseed. If you don't have woodland nearby where you can find pinecones on the ground, buy them online from sites such as Amazon, or from florists' suppliers. Buy wild birdseed from supermarkets, garden centres or pet stores.
First, cut a piece of string around 12 inches long and tie it to the top of the pinecone, leaving it long enough to hang the cone in your garden. Make sure you're using the kitchen table and not wearing good clothes, as this activity can get a bit messy.
Put the pinecone on a paper towel or plate and scoop a dessert spoon of peanut butter out of the jar, carefully spreading it evenly on to the cone, with a thick layer on each of the scales.
Grip the pinecone in a clean area at the top and dip it into a bowl of birdseed. Use a very fine birdseed, without bulky suet pellets or sunflower seeds, as it sticks better.
Once the peanut butter is completely covered in birdseed, you're done; make sure it's a nice day before you hand it out for the birds, as the pinecone will close up once it becomes wet.
- Paper Mache owl piñata
First, blow up a balloon to the size you want your owl piñata to be. Then, make your mixture by mixing one part flour with two parts water until it has the consistency of batter.
Dip strips of newspaper into the mixture and layer them over the balloon, leaving a two-inch gap around the tied end of the balloon - this is where the treats will go into the piñata later on. Apply three to four layers of newspaper strips. Leave the piñata to dry completely.
Cut out some tissue paper circles and fringes for decoration. Use paper, beads or anything you want to create the face for your owl. Once your piñata is dry, attach the decorations and face with glue. It's easier to start at the bottom and work your way up. You can always sketch your own design with a pencil on the balloon before you start sticking on the tissue paper.
When it's dry, the mixture will set solid. At this point, it's time to snip off the tip of the balloon that's sticking out. Punch a couple of holes in the rim and thread a piece of string through to hang it up. Fill the piñata with your chosen sweets and voila!
- Watercolour painting
This easy art activity for young children is a twist on watercolour painting. You'll need plain white paper, paints, stickers of different shapes and sizes, and a paintbrush.
Put newspaper on your table before you start. Then, encourage your child to put the stickers all over the white paper, in a pattern of their choice. They can paint the whole piece of paper with the watercolour paints, using as many colours as they choose.
Wait ‘til it's completely dry and then gently peel off the stickers. They will leave behind bright white shapes in a design on the painted paper.
- Natural collage
Print out a full-length photo of your child, preferably against an outdoor background - it needs to be quite large (minimum 11 inches x 8.5 inches) for the best effect.
When the weather is fine, go outside into your garden and gather natural art supplies from your surroundings. You can use leaves, twigs, bark, flowers, acorns, small pebbles and anything else you think is suitable.
Use craft glue to stick the items you've collected to the photo to create a natural collage background that you can hang on the wall.
- Simple mosaic picture
This is a craft project that can take some time to complete, so it will while away the hours. Using a large piece of card, get your child to sketch a simple landscape. This can be anything at all, from the beach and sea to a picturesque landscape, animals in a field, or even your dog in the garden.
Then, give your child a pile of old, colourful magazines and encourage them to tear coloured, randomly-shaped pieces of paper from the magazine's pages. Glue them onto the card, keeping to the shape of the landscape drawing, to build it up into a 3D mosaic effect.
Once it's finished, consider having the final product laminated to stop the mosaic from coming loose. You can complete lots of different designs and hang them on your children's bedroom wall for a colourful look.
Keep your art materials and tools safe in our clear plastic Really Useful storage boxes. They come in a huge selection of shapes and sizes, ranging from 0.2 litres to 145 litres.