This is the fifth post in My Top 5 Summer Sanity Tips! Did you catch last week’s post on affordable summer activities?
Coming up with creative ways to entertain the children isn't always an easy task. You can spend hours on the internet searching for kid-friendly crafts, only to find that they are very expensive! Today's post will give you 5 affordable crafts you can do with your kids this summer.
5 Affordable Crafts
1. Garden Rocks
You don't have to go out and buy expensive rocks for this craft! Find rocks in your yard or at your local park. Once you have them you clean your rocks, dry them and then get to decorating. The kids can really get creative and you might end up with some amazing yard art.
We do this craft on a regular basis because it keeps the kids busy for hours between collecting, washing and painting! My favorite part is it gives me some quiet time to actually do something for myself like read a book of sun bathe! Hop on over to Keep the Kids Busy with Rocks and Paint to find out more!
2. Make Crayons
Most parents have a box of broken crayons lying around their home. Use those broken crayons to have a very affordable craft day. You will to start this craft off in the oven so adult-supervision is a must! Once the crayons are out of the oven and cooled the kids will have fun making shaping and molding their crayon art.
We usually pick up fun silicone shaped pans at the dollar store around Valentines Day or other holidays and use that for making crayons. Our favorite is the cute little silicone heart muffin pan we bought, it makes the perfect little crayon. All you have to do is get a few broken pieces of crayon to fill the muffin pan and melt in the oven until the crayon pieces become liquid. After that remove them from the oven and let cool. Tada you have your very own custom color crayon!!
3. Make a Pinata
This is a craft that will keep you and the kids busy for hours, but so worth the effort. Spend a day making a pinata and then have an outdoor family party. Surprise the kids by filling up the pinata with special treats for them. You can really get creative with theme of your pinata.
I like to use a paper lunch bag and use whatever decorations we have around the house. Tissue paper works great, little gems, and string. Decorate so you can fill the bag up and staple the top closed. This is a lot easier and cleaner than the paper mache variety and the kids can easily make it time and time again.
4. Sock Puppets
Sock puppets are very affordable to make and perfect for younger children. Once you have your sock puppets put together put on a sock puppet play. This craft will really encourage your child to use his or her imagination. Now you finally have a use for those single socks that come out of the dryer!
One of the favorite books in our house is [easyazon_link keywords=”Jillian Jiggs” locale=”US” tag=”reamom0b-20″]Jillian Jiggs[/easyazon_link]! If you've ever read the book you know she is the maker of wonderful marvelous pigs!! There is instructions at the back of each book on how to create your own pigs out of simple supplies around the house and the book encourages kids to put on plays and entertain themselves.
5. Make Jewelry
If you have a daughter this craft is going to be a hit! If you don't already have beads around the home you can pick some up at a craft or dollar store. Beads are very affordable and easy to use when making jewelry. You can have your daughter make some back to school jewelry for herself, friends or make presents for family members.
Cheyenne has been crafting a ton of items from larger beads this summer. My favorite creations are her bookmarks, she makes a long piece of her plastic string and puts beads on either end so the piece lies in the spine of the book to mark the page. Genius idea if you ask me!
That pretty much sums up my affordable crafts. As fifth post in the series of My Top 5 Summer Sanity Tips I hope in some way I’m helping you keep your sanity this summer! Keep an eye out for more fun articles to come all summer long! Remember to keep things simple because we need our sanity this summer to it should be about rest and relaxation. As a quick reminder my top 5 tips are:
- Garden Rocks
- Make Crayons
- Make a Pinata
- Sock Puppets
- Make Jewelry
I would love to hear some of your summer sanity tips for crafting at home!
Do you get creative or do you have a craft you go back to time and time again?
Check out our other Summer Sanity Tips:
- Road Trip Tips
- Affordable Crafts
- Family Camping Trip
- Summer Play Dates
- Affordable Summer Activities
- Prepping for Back to School