Fun Indoor Activities for Crafty Kids To Unleash Their Creativity
It can be hard to entertain your kids when everyone is stuck inside. But with the right activities, you can help your children unleash their creativity and learn new skills simultaneously. Crafting is a great way to engage with kids of all ages while also encouraging them to express themselves. Whether they love to draw, paint, or sew, there’s an activity out there to match their artistic interests.
This post will discuss some of the most fun indoor activities for crafty kids. From paper crafts to painting, there’s something for every child who loves to get creative. We’ll discuss what supplies you need and the projects you can do with craft-loving kids of all ages. So, let’s get started!
Gathering Materials
Crafting with kids is a fun way to unleash your child’s creativity and give them a break from their normal routine, especially when they can’t go outside. First, however, you must gather all the necessary materials before you start a crafting project. Some basic supplies to have on hand for crafting with your kids include:
- Scissors
- Glue
- Construction paper
- Markers
- Crayons
- Stickers
- Colored pencils
- Fabric scraps
- Yarn
If you are going for a more specific craft, such as jewelry making or creating a scrapbook, get the appropriate supplies for that activity. Depending on your child’s interests and skill level, you can grab high-quality art supplies or stick to something simple and fun such as a Disney princess coloring book.
You can get crafting materials at arts and crafts stores like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby, or pick up some items at the dollar store. You can even find suitable crafting materials around your home – like an old jar of buttons or an unused spool of ribbon in your closet.
Crafting Ideas
Once you have gathered all the necessary supplies, it’s time to decide what kind of crafts your kids will do! Here are some ideas to try:
Finger Painting
Kids love getting messy with paint! However, if painting sounds too intense for the age group of your children, consider finger painting instead. This provides them with plenty of room for creative expression without creating too much of a mess. You can also use it as an opportunity to teach them about color mixing.
Card-making
Whether for a special occasion or just for fun, card-making is a great way for kids to unleash their creativity and practice their writing skills. Have them make birthday cards or thank-you cards for the special people in their lives using whatever crafting supplies you have on hand. Try having them make their traditional holiday cards or create one-of-a-kind art cards made of paper scraps.
Sewing
A great way for kids to learn basic sewing skills is by having them use needles and thread to sew together pieces of fabric into plushies or stuffed animals. Alternatively, kids can also practice forming stitches with plastic canvas and yarn to create recognizable objects like keychains or holiday decorations that they can keep or give away as gifts.
Paper Art
Paper art projects are fun for all ages. Your kids might enjoy making paper airplanes, origami animals, or paper dolls using construction paper. Take the chance to show them interesting ways to fold the paper and how to cut out unique designs.
Tips for Fun Crafting
Keep crafting sessions short
Crafting takes concentration, so avoid overdoing it by breaking the activity into shorter sessions throughout the day. Consider doing one task at a time so the child doesn’t get overwhelmed and lose interest in completing the craft.
Stay patient when explaining
Regularly introduce new crafting tasks so your child can gradually learn different skills. Have patience when teaching younger kids and make sure that they understand how things work before attempting projects on their own.
Keep it simple
To prevent overwhelming and discouraging children, it’s best to avoid having too many materials lying around at once, as they may not know how to start an activity with so many options in front of them. It’s also good to keep activities short, lasting no more than 30 minutes, to prevent boredom and frustration. Long projects spanning multiple days may diminish their enthusiasm for completing project goals.
Ideas To Keep the Creative Juices Going
Find inspiration
Many ideas are available online if you need help finding inspiration for crafting projects with your child. If they still feel uninspired after looking through different project ideas, try offering suggestions like “Let’s make something out of this fabric scrap we found.” This pushes them towards creativity while providing the structure and guidance needed if they get stuck along the way!
Create a game
Anything can become fun if it is seen as a game! Try turning certain tasks like color-sorting buttons into games where you reward points for every job completed correctly. This is a great incentive for young crafters to keep going.
Give it a story
Provide some direction by suggesting that certain crafts represent something meaningful, like memories from a vacation spot or events throughout their day/week/year, etc. For example, making clay sculptures of characters from books would be a fun way for kids to express their favorite moments from stories they’ve read recently.
Ending a Crafting Session
Reflection
Allocate time after each project for the child to reflect on their achievements. This provides an opportunity to discuss any difficulties encountered while working on something new and acknowledge and appreciate the good work done by individuals (e.g., “Great job on arranging all those colors in such a stunning design!”).
Encouragement
Whether encouraging them to repeat favorite activities (like painting) or coming up with something completely original – let your children know that you believe in their ability to innovate by giving them space for growth and exploration in their creative outlets!
Organization
Help your child create an organized storage system by using containers labeled with tags such as “paper crafts,” “fabric,” “paint,” etc. This will make clean-up easier and help remind them what supplies are available next time they want to craft something new.
Clean-up
Lastly, clean up any messes made during craft time before putting away all of the materials. Make sure that there are no spills or sharp objects left out to keep everyone safe from potential accidents.
Trusted Insights from Artists
At Art Life Today, our passion for arts and crafts is at the heart of everything we do. We understand that the right tools and materials can make all the difference in your creative projects, so we take our responsibility as reviewers seriously. Our goal is to help you discover the best products that will inspire your creativity and bring your artistic visions to life.