Coming up with ideas to keep the kids occupied can be almost as exhausting as doing the activities themselves! Having to fight for their attention with the multitude of screens that no doubt dominate their entertainment schedule can be a tough battle to enter, but stimulating children with creative activities outside a screen can be beneficial for their development and can improve their motor skills and their social skills.

Of course, if you’re not creative yourself, it may be a little bit more difficult to come up with creative activities that are easy to demonstrate to children and easy to guide them through. But fear not, here are plenty of arts and crafts for kids that are so simple that anyone can do them!

Basic Origami

A lot of parents would run a mile when they hear the word ‘origami’, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Sure, there are plenty of designs out there that are destined to fail, but there are also lots that are really easy to construct and don’t come complicated instructions.

Many arts and crafts websites now offer downloadable templates that can be printed, after that, all you have to do is fold along the lines and you’ve got cute sculptures that can be made by kids of most ages. A Paper pinwheel is the easiest of these and only requires a few cuts with scissors and minimal folding.

Scrapbooking

Creating your own photo albums is a great way to bond with your kids while giving them something crafty to do and creating a lasting keepsake for the whole family. Get your hands on a basic scrapbook, grab some glue and go to town!

Get the little ones to decorate the pages with glitter glue, felt tip pens and drawings and they’ll feel involved in making something everyone can enjoy.

Not a fan of cleaning up crafty mess? Look around for the best online photo album maker and spend an afternoon at the computer deciding the photos that should go in and the colours and designs of pages. It’s just as fun and crafty, just electronic!

DIY Playdough

Playdough is a great way for kids to make their own toy that can be enjoyed over and over again. It’s not even hard to make, so save yourself some money on buying commercial Playdough and make it yourself at home in five easy steps.

All you’ll need is 170g of cornstarch, 340g of baking soda and 255g of water, plus essential oils and food colouring to make it really pop. Mix all the ingredients together and then begin to heat on the stove. Stir it constantly until it starts to solidify and then take off the heat. Once it’s cooled down, add in the essential oils and food colouring and there you have it, easy to make, homemade Playdough.

There’s just a few ideas to get you started on your child-friendly crafty journey. There are always lots of ideas floating around, why not share yours below or get in touch to add yours to the list!