When summer boredom strikes, these fun crafts will be sure to entice children indoors and create something cool! From DIY flowers to creative paper plate crafts, these ideas are great for families of all ages.
Grab supplies from your recycling bins to create this fun pressed flower art project – it makes for the perfect activity on any sunny day, both at home and while traveling!
Benefits of Crafting
Creativity can be an excellent way to spark the imagination and improve fine motor skills, as well as open a conversation about sensory play and its many advantages for learning and understanding our world. Crafting also teaches children important life lessons such as following instructions and solving problems – great tools that help prevent boredom during long summer days! Plus it makes an excellent way of passing time!
Paper Plate Turtle
Kids love making paper crafts, and this adorable turtle paper plate craft is an adorable summer project for toddlers and preschoolers. Not only can younger children participate, but its decorative appeal will look fantastic hanging on any bedroom wall.
Start by painting your plate green – use darker hues for maximum character – then once that has dried cut out a head and tail from green card or foam and glue them to the underside of the plate.
Now it’s time to create the legs. Spread some PVA glue along the bottom of your plate and cover it with tissue paper squares – we used four different shades of green tissue paper squares for an eye-catching mosaic pattern! Finally, if desired, add some wiggling eyes as a finishing touch!
Popsicle Stick Snake
Summer break is the ideal opportunity to introduce kids to new crafts. Popsicle stick snake crafts are simple to create and children will delight at how much their creations move! These popsicles stick snake crafts make perfect additions for this age range and will keep their attention for hours when finished!
This mix ‘n’ match articulated snake craft features interchangeable body parts that can be swapped out to create different designs, perfect for fine motor development as children use their fingers to assemble the snakes.
These creative craft ideas for kids will get them up off their screens and have fun! Plus, using a popsicle stick as canvas will improve their drawing and color mixing skills!
Stem Catapult
This summer STEM craft is an engaging and effective way to encourage learning while utilizing problem-solving skills. Children will love experimenting with this catapult to see how far objects can travel after being launched into space, plus its recyclable materials make for easy clean-up – plus, its eco-friendliness makes this craft ideal for the classroom!
With this project, children will explore engineering and physics concepts by designing their own popsicle stick catapult. Younger children may require assistance from parents while older kids can rely on their creativity alone to come up with something truly original. Encourage your students to experiment with making modifications such as altering the fulcrum point or including different materials like cardboard or recycled bottles into their design.
As kids build catapults, they’ll gain insight into the science of levers and how distance is affected by force, size, and angle of launch of objects launched from them. Have them test their designs by repeatedly firing ping-pong balls or other objects from one spot at another until it flies far enough for graphing purposes; this will provide opportunities for discussion as results emerge and graphs can show results graphically. They can repeat this experiment with various objects to see how distance varies and then make any necessary adjustments that would enable their designs to propel it further still.
Constellation Magnet Craft
Kids can sharpen their fine motor skills while learning about constellations through this fun lacing activity. All they’ll need is string, colored beads, and scissors. After they have created their constellation bracelets, let them use them to create a star map of the night sky as an extension activity and to refresh their knowledge about constellations. This activity makes an excellent addition to any space unit as a great way to demonstrate and recap their understanding.
Dinosaur Sensor
Dinosaurs are captivating for children of all ages and are an effective way for them to explore prehistory. There are various models, toys, and books available that teach about different species of dinosaurs that lived. Drexel University even has an educational toy available that helps kids understand how dinosaurs have developed over time.
The Augmented Reality Robot features touch sensors, microphones and infrared detection which enable it to sense its environment. Furthermore, it can be preprogrammed with tricks and stunts.
Kids can program an Intellisaur robot dinosaur to walk, talk and respond to touch from them this summer or during family vacations. This smart toy makes for great entertainment when out and about in nature or while traveling together as a family.
This toy helps kids understand the origin and evolution of dinosaurs by mimicking their movements and helping them learn about the various species and their habitats by displaying 3D images on its built-in screen.
This dinosaur craft can also serve as an engaging way for kids to improve their hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and socialization skills. Sharing this activity with other children or adults provides additional socialization benefits and develops language abilities while sharing. Perfect activity for toddlers and preschoolers!
Paper Plate Pirate
An engaging paper plate pirate craft is the ideal way to mark International Talk Like a Pirate Day or simply enjoy making crafts from easily available supplies. Although this craft requires some preparation (painting the plate brown and printing/tracing the template), the whole project is simple enough for any child to complete successfully. Once done, your paper plate pirate mask can be used in pretend play scenarios or transformed into an actual pirate mask by replacing its template eye with thin strips of wood or tongue depressor.
To complete this project, first paint a paper plate with light brown paint and allow it to dry fully before creating this project. Next, cut out strips from both blue and white construction paper before adhering them on half plate in a striped pattern – trimming off any extra pieces as necessary. Stick a head onto the top of the plate, followed by a mustache and eyebrows made of red or black felt. Next, attach an eye patch adorned with skull and crossbones; finally draw in mouth and nose below the mustache. This simple pirate craft is ideal for toddlers and preschoolers, helping to develop fine motor skills while providing endless inspiration for creative play and storytelling. Additionally, this would make an excellent addition to any pirate-themed displays within an early year setting.