Fun and Easy Children’s Crafts

Preschool Art Activities

Preschoolers love to explore, investigate, and discover.  Try painting with a variety of different materials.  Dip marbles in paint and then roll them across paper to make various designs.  Place a blob of thinned finger paint in the center of a paper and let your child blow the paint with a straw.  Painting with water on the sidewalk with a spray bottle or small brush is also a thrill to preschoolers.

Another adorable art craft for preschoolers is fingerprint animals.  Use a small inkpad to make fingerprints and thumbprints on paper.  Let your child create their own fingerprint animal with crayons or markers or put each print in a row and make a cute caterpillar.  Thumbprints can create cute mice that will be treasured keepsakes of your child’s preschool years.

Art Activities for 5 to 7 Year Olds

Early elementary age children are learning the value and importance of friends and are developing more precise hand and eye coordination, as well as fine motor skills.  Longer attention spans mean children this age can participate in lengthier projects.  An assortment of beads and charms and jewelry wire make a great activity for 5 to 7 year olds.  The jewelry they create make ideal gifts for friends and relatives.

Let your child make his own bug finger puppet from basic supplies like craft foam, pom-poms, and chenille stems.  Wrap a 2 by 3 inch piece of craft foam and secure with craft glue or a hot glue gun.  You can also paint a toilet paper roll and cut it in half for the bug’s body.  Attach a pom-pom to one end and glue on wiggle eyes.  Your child can paint on other face features and glue on chenille stems for antennae.  Encourage your child to get creative with his bug.  He can fashion wings from craft foam or felt, or even simple construction paper.  Decorate the wings with paint, glitter, or markers and secure to the body with glue.  Attach chenille stems to the body as legs.    

Art Activities for Older Children (8+)

Older children can become involved in much more complex arts and crafts activities, possibly even getting started with a crafting hobby.  Encourage your child to get involved with hobbies you pursue, like scrapbooking, crochet, or cross stitching.  Encourage their own creative hobby pursuits with craft kits like the Galt Silk Painting Kit.

Older children can get involved in simple sewing crafts, paper mache crafts, and projects that require basic cooking.  Arts and crafts activities that create personalized, useful items or gifts are a lot of fun for late elementary school agers.  Pennants fashioned out of felt can be decorated with fabric paints, glitter, and buttons to promote your child’s favorite team, celebrity, or her school.  Let her add stitched embellishments with yarn and a yarn needle if desired.

See Next Article: Setting Up Learning Centers for Preschoolers