Simple Arts and Crafts for Kids

Arts and crafts are a great way to keep kids entertained and help them create something they can be proud of.  Crafts should be simple to avoid frustration.  Some cute ideas for arts and crafts include pasta crafts, collages, portraits, pictures using beans and seeds and bird nests.

Pasta Crafts

Gather many different pasta shapes such as macaroni noodles, ziti noodles and pinwheels.  Have them paint pasta using washable paints, or roll them in glue and then glitter.  When they have dried, have them string them onto yarn to make necklaces or bracelets.  They can also use their painted pasta to glue to construction paper.  Have them try to create different pictures out of them.

Fun Collages

Gather magazines, buttons, sequins and felt scraps.  Have them cut pictures out of magazines and glue them to construction paper.  Have them complete their collages with felt, buttons and sequins.

Self-Portraits

Have kids look at themselves in a mirror and paint portraits of themselves.  Let them finish their portrait by adding yarn for hair, buttons for eyes and felt for lips for a unique self-portrait.

Beans and Seeds

Gather different colors and shapes of beans and seeds.  Have them brush glue into a design on paper and sprinkle with beans or seeds.  Have them brush the remaining spaces with glue and sprinkle a different color of beans or seeds on top.  Have them keep doing it until the whole paper is covered in a pretty design.

Bird Nest

Cut a paper plate in half and paint it brown.  Glue blades of grass or twigs to it to make a nest.  Cut out bird shapes from paper or felt and glue them to the back of the plate.  Glue on wiggle eyes and beaks.