It’s the weekend, and time to crack out some more easy and fun craft projects you can tackle with your youngsters.
Crafting is a great way of encouraging kids to be creative, while it’s also a good way to relax.
If the mess makes you feel stressed, choose an option you can do outside on a warm day – it’s the perfect antidote to feeling cooped up.
Hobbycraft’s Ideas Hub is full of fun and simple projects, and it also has an online Daily Kid’s Craft Club, with a different theme posted at 11am Monday-Friday on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The craft club focuses on a theme, rather than a specific project, so children can get involved using whatever materials they have at home.
Here’s some ideas to try at home:
1. Master brilliant bunting
Everyone loves a bit of bunting – it’s so cheering, and easy and cheap to create.
You can either use scraps of fabric (try upcycling old, unwanted clothes) and sew triangular shapes of colourful bunting, which can then be stitched on to a fabric string or ribbon.
Or you can cut out paper or card triangles, punch holes in them, decorate with paint or pen, and string them up. It’s bound to brighten up the place.
2. Paint like Pollock
Splash out on a lovely big canvas (Hobbycraft have a huge range from £6-£18) and make a family splatter painting inspired by Jackson Pollock.
Choose your paint colours, get brushes of all sizes at the ready and take it in turns to splatter the paint over the canvas.
Keep going, one-by-one, until you’re happy with the finished result.
3. Transform into a robot
Had anything been delivered to you in a large box recently?
Let the kids make a robot outfit out of it by sticking bits together, cutting holes for the head, arms and legs, and decorating it however they fancy.
4. Let someone know you’re thinking of them
Make cards or postcards to send to friends and loved ones your kids are missing.
The fronts can feature hand-drawn pictures or decorations galore, while inside or on the back, children and parents can write messages of love.
Tell someone you miss them and why, say something that will make them happy, then send them through the post for a delivery of joy.
If you fancy a kit to get you started, you can buy a Kids Colour In Postcard Portraits Pack for £6.50, from notonthehighstreet.
5. Build a den
Who needs an actual tent when you can build a den?
Gather sheets, tarpaulin, card, newspapers, mats, twigs, cushions – anything that might be useful for taking cover beneath – and go to town building the biggest and best den you’ve ever attempted.
Make signs for the ‘door’, and thread leaves on to sticks to prettify the area, then sneak tea and biscuits inside.