30 Easy crafts for kids: Fun and simple ideas for all ages

Cardboard tube binoculars | Paper plate mask | Cupcake liner fish | Fairy crowns | Magic wand | Press flowers | Bird feeder | Toilet paper roll dog | Puppet from old socks | Make a pin wheel | Festival bracelet | Monster windsocks | Paper flowers | Pool noodle boats | Toilet paper roll frog | Coffee filter butterflies | Paper roll caterpillars | Tie Dye baby wipes | Cardboard woodland animal puppet | Craft stick and cupcake liner fairy | Bedroom door signs | Rock painting | Minion pencil | Paper bag kite | Paper plate snail | Handprint heart | Carrot treat cones | Cardboard suns | Craft stick crocodile | Toilet roll cars

Cardboard tube binoculars

You will need:

• Cardboard tubes (you can use kitchen or toilet rolls)
• Scissors
• Masking tape
• Pencil
• Glue
• Paint
• Paintbrushes
• Optional: patterned card
• Split pins
• Ribbon

How to make cardboard tube binoculars:

1. Cut one of the cardboard tubes in half
2. Take one of the pieces and squash the middle part in, then cover the ends in masking tape to hold the shape
3. Glue the squashed tube in between two other cardboard tubes — you might want to hold them in place with masking tape whilst the glue sets
4. Mark a line in pencil 4cm down from the top of the binoculars
5. Paint the two sections above and below the pencil mark in contrasting colours
6. Paint over the pencil mark in another different colour, or cut a 1cm-wide strip of patterned card and glue around the line between the colours
7. Use a pair of scissors to poke a hole 2cm down from the top on each side of the binoculars
8. Push a split pin through a piece of ribbon, on either side about 1cm from the ends
9. Push the split pin through the hole you made in the binoculars and open it up to secure in place
10. Repeat on the other side so your ribbon forms a strap for your binoculars

Credit: Hobbycraft

Paper plate mask

You will need:

• A large paper plate
• Orange paint
• Paintbrush
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Black pen/Sharpie
• Beige paper
• Double-sided tape
• Pink paper/card
• Elastic/string

How to make a tiger paper plate mask:

1. Turn a large paper plate over so it's upside down
2. Cover the whole plate in a coat of orange paint
3. Leave to dry, then add another coat of paint if needed
4. Cut the bottom third of the paper plate off in a soft 'W' shape.
5. Hold the plate up to your child's face and make a note of where the eyes are with a pencil
6. Cut out two eye holes
7. Use a black pen to draw thick tiger stripes on the sides and top of the plate
8. Take a sheet of beige paper and cut out a section in a figure 8 shape for the bottom, lighter part of the face, then stick this piece to the bottom of the paper plate using double sided tape
9. Take a sheet of pink paper or card and cut out a triangular shape for the tiger's nose, then stick it to the middle of the mask, where the orange and beige paper meet
10. Cut out two ear shapes from the leftover section of paper plate that you cut off in step 4
11. Cut out two smaller shapes from pink paper and stick them to the inner parts of the ears
12. Stick the two ears to the top of the mask using double sided tape
13. Using scissors, carefully make a small hole on either side of the mask
14. Cut a piece of elastic/string and thread it through the two holes and tie in a double knot

Credit: Baker Ross

Cupcake liner fish

You will need:

• Multi-coloured cupcake cases
• Scissors
• Glue
• Paper plates
• A googly eye
• Mirror card
• Pencil
• Small gems
• String

How to make a cupcake liner fish:

1. Cut multi-coloured cupcake cases into quarters to make scales — the more colours the better! We would suggest cutting around 15-20 cupcake cases, but it depends on how big your paper plate is and how covered you want it to be
2. Take a paper plate (whatever colour you have — bright colours like yellow and orange work particularly well) and use glue to start sticking the points of the scales down all in one direction overlapping each other — leave a space near to one of the edges for the fish face
3. Take another paper plate and cut out a fish face shape and stick it on top of the cupcake case-covered paper plate — near the edge of the plate
4. Stick a googly eye onto the fish's face
5. Take another paper plate and cut it into a quarter to make the fish's tail and cover with scales in the same way as the body
6. Glue the tip of the fish tail to the back of the first paper plate
7. Cut out a small 'B' shape from a paper plate and stick it underneath the first paper plate on the opposite end of the tail to create the fish's lips
8. Flatten and place an uncut cupcake case on top of a piece of mirror card then draw around it to create a circular template
9. Cut out the circle, then repeat so you have 3 circles
10. Cut out the circles into sixths to make 6 triangle shapes
11. Glue these mirror pieces in between the fish scales — spread them throughout the fish's body
12. Decorate the scales with gems
13. Cut off a piece of string then tie together to form a loop
14. Glue the string to the back of the fish

Credit: Baker Ross

Fairy crowns

You will need:

• Twine
• Scissors
• Silk/artificial flowers
• Glue gun

How to make a fairy crown:

1. Wrap a piece of twine around your child's head where they would like their crown to go, then measure an extra two inches
2. Tie a tight knot in the twine, then wrap the twine around the head a second time and tie a knot in the same place
3. Wrap the twine crown in around the strand of small flowers multiple times — use as many or as few flower strands as you prefer
4. Use the glue gun to glue the twine to the stem in a few places (adults will have to do this part)
5. Cut a flower from your other flower stems that you would like to use — leave about an inch of the stem on the flower
6. Weave the stem of the flower into the twine of the crown and use a small amount of glue to secure it in place
7. Repeat with multiple colours and sizes of flowers until the crown looks the way you like — you can add as many or as few flowers as you want!

Credit: Make Life Lovely

Magic wand

You will need:

• Wooden skewers or sticks
• Acrylic paint
• A star template (you can draw or print your own)
• Pen
• Card
• Scissors
• Glue
• Sparkly paint or glitter

How to make a magic wand craft:

1. Paint half of your wooden skewer/stick with acrylic paint and leave to dry, then paint the second half (this makes it easier to hold without getting your fingers covered in paint!)
2. Allow the wooden skewers to completely dry
3. While the skewers are drying, start creating your stars (if needed, start by drawing a star template on a piece of paper)
4. Place your star template on a piece of card then trace around it with a black marker pen and repeat to create multiple stars (you will need twice as many star cutouts as you have skewers)
5. Put dots of glue on the corners of one star cutout, then put another start cutout on top of it, leaving a small gap between two points for your stick to go into
6. When the stars are stuck together, tidy the edges up by trimming off any excess card
7. Put a bit of glue on the pointy tip of the skewer
8. Stick the skewer into the star in between the points and allow it to dry
9. Paint the stars with sparkly paint or glitter and leave to dry

Credit: Happy Family Art

Press flowers

You will need:

• Fresh flowers
• Paper towels
• A heavy microwave-safe dish/container
• A microwave

How to press flowers:

1. Cut your flower blooms and leaves as desired
2. Place your flower blooms on top of a paper towel (remember, how you place your blooms will be how they dry, so make sure you're happy with how smooth and flat they are)
3. Cover the flowers with another paper towel
4. Place in a microwave, then set a heavy microwave-safe dish on top — don't press down on the dish, just set it on top gently
5. Microwave at half power for 90 seconds, then remove the dish and check your flowers — they should feel quite dry, almost like paper. If they still feel moist, cover the flowers with the dish again and microwave again in 30-second increments until dry
6. Once you're happy that the flowers are dry, remove them from the microwave and leave to cool — they will get stiffer as they cool and fully dry

Credit: Studio DIY

• We've got a great guide to pressing flowers for kids, plus creative ideas how to use pressed flowers

Bird feeder

You will need:

• A 2 litre plastic bottle — make sure it's clean and dry
• Ruler
• Marker pen
• Utility knife
• 2 wooden spoons
• 1 small screw eye
• Twine for hanging
• Birdseed
• Funnel

How to make a bird feeder:

1. Using a ruler, measure two inches up from the bottom of your plastic bottle and use a marker to draw a half-inch 'X' to mark the spot
2. Turn the bottle around 90 degrees, then measure five inches up from the bottom and draw another half-inch 'X' to mark the spot
3. Draw a one-inch-wide circle opposite both of the X marks
4. Ask an adult to use the utility knife to slit the two X marks and cut out the one-inch circles
5. Insert a wooden spoon handle through each of the cutout circles, then push the handles through the small X marks — the wooden spoons will act as a perch and also catch seeds that fall out
6. Ask an adult to poke a small hole in the top of the cap, then take the screw eye and twist it into the centre
7. Attach a piece of twine to the screw eye and tie it tightly in a knot — the length of the twine will depend on the height of the branch or hanger you want to hang the feeder from
8. Place the funnel on top of the bottle and fill it with bird seed
9. Screw the cap back on the bottle, then hang up your bird feeder

Credit: National Geographic Kids

Toilet paper roll dog

You will need:

• Toilet paper roll
• Coloured paper
• Card
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Glue
• Googly eyes

How to make a toilet paper roll dog:

1. Using glue, wrap a toilet paper roll with coloured paper (alternatively, you can paint the toilet roll instead)
2. To make the ears, fold a piece of card in half, draw an ear shape, then cut it out — you will then have 2 identical ears
3. Apply glue on the back of the ears and stick them onto the toilet paper roll, one on each side
4. Cut out a small circle on the card for the snout and glue it in place in the middle of the paper roll
5. Stick 2 googly eyes on the paper roll above the snout (if you don't have googly eyes, you can draw them on with black and white markers)
6. Draw a nose and mouth onto the snout

Credit: Easy Peasy and Fun

Puppet from old socks

You will need:

• A sock
• Cardboard
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Googly eyes
• Felt in a few different colours
• Pom poms
• Marker pen
• Tissue – used as stuffing for the nose

How to make a puppet from old socks:

1. Cut out a piece of cardboard that fits just inside the width of the sock, then fold it in half like you're closing its mouth
2. Draw a mouth shape on the piece of cardboard and cut it out
3. Using a hot glue gun, glue the cardboard mouthpiece to a piece of felt
4. Cut around the cardboard mouthpiece leaving about a ¼” border of felt
5. Snip little lines into the felt along the edge to avoid buckling, and glue the border onto the underside of the cardboard mouth
6. To make the dragon’s teeth, cut a length of white felt long enough to wrap around the top part of the mouthpiece and wide enough for the teeth — remember to keep an edge that you can use to glue it onto the mouth!
7. Cut away a row of small triangular teeth
8. Glue the teeth to the underside of the cardboard mouthpiece
9. Glue the mouth to the sock
10. Optional: Cut out and glue in other details for your puppet’s mouth, like a tongue
11. Hot glue googly eyes onto big pom poms, then glue the pom poms onto the puppet’s head above the mouth
12. Stuff some tissue into the tip of the sock to make a thick snout
13. Attach 2 smaller pom poms to the end of the sock to create nostrils
14. Cut out a pointy spine from purple felt and use hot glue to attach it to the back of the sock

Credit: Super Simple

Make a pinwheel

You will need:

• Paper
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Drawing pin
• Needle-nose pliers
• Sewing pins
• Small beads
• Wood skewers
• A glue gun

How to make a pinwheel:

1. Cut paper into 6'' x 6'' squares
2. Use a pencil to lightly mark an "X" from corner to corner on the paper
3. Use a drawing pin to make a small hole to the left of each line, right in the corner of the paper, and make another in the centre of the paper
4. Cut along the lines from each corner until you reach about halfway to the middle of the paper — this doesn't have to be exact, just make sure that each of the cuts is close to the same length as all the others
5. Use needle nose pliers to bend a sewing pin so there is about a 1/2'' gap between the end to the bend (you need to be able to fit the paper, the bead and the skewer in this space, so it will depend on the thickness of all the supplies you’re using)
6. Poke the pin through the hole in one of the corners, then poke it through the second, third and fourth corners
7. Finally, poke the pin through the hole in the middle of the paper and manoeuvre the papers around the bend in the pin so the entire pin is poking out the back
8. Slide a bead onto the pin
9. Use a drawing pin to poke a hole through a wooden skewer about 1/4″ from the end (you are likely going to split the wood of the skewer, but that’s okay as long as you make an opening for the pin to go through)
10. Poke the pin through the hole in the skewer
11. Rotate the pin so that it is lying flat against the skewer
12. Use your thumb to hold the bottom of the pin flat against the skewer, then use hot glue to cover the top part of the pin
13. Fill in the crack in the skewer where it split, if needed — you’ll have to keep your thumb on the bottom of the pin while the glue dries, or it will pop up away from the skewer
14. Once the top part of the glue is dry, hot glue the bottom part of the pin, being careful to completely cover the end of the pin (you don’t want it poking anyone!). As long as you put a generous amount of hot glue on, the sharp part of the pin will be completely buried. You want the pin to be completely secure so it won’t pop off while people are blowing the pinwheel

Credit: One Little Project

Festival bracelet

You will need:

• Multiple pieces of ribbon
• Scissors
• Glitter
• Sequins
• A clear keyring
• Optional: beads

How to make a festival bracelet:

1. Plait three pieces of ribbon, crossing them over each other until you have the desired length of your bracelet
2. When you've reached the length you want, tie a knot and remove the rest of the ribbon with scissors
3. Fill a keyring with sequins and glitter
4. Loop the ribbon through the keyring and if you like, you can feed beads onto the bracelet either side of the keyring charm
5. Tie the two ends of the bracelet together

Credit: The Creation Station

Monster windsocks

You will need:

• Crepe paper streamers
• Scissors
• Multi-coloured card
• Googly eyes/multi-coloured pens to draw eyes
• White card
• Black pen
• Gluestick
• Tape
• String/yarn

How to make monster windsocks:

1. Cut crepe paper streamers into 3-foot lengths
2. Place your card horizontally in front of you and stick a googly eye to the centre point of the card, or draw a monster-y eye with felt pens
3. To make fangs, draw them onto a white piece of paper and cut them out — be sure to cut along the edge of the lines, you want the black outline visible, not cut off
4. Draw a mouth onto the card below the monster's eye and glue the fangs into place
5. Turn the card over and glue the crepe paper streamers to the bottom end of the card
6. Bring the two sides of the car up and tape them together to form a tube
7. Cut an 8-10″ length of string or yarn and tape the two ends inside the tube to create a hanger (similar to a bag handle)

Credit: Crafts by Amanda

Paper flowers

You will need:

• A4 coloured and green card (in different shades of green if you like)
• Green wooden lolly sticks (or regular wooden lolly sticks and green paint)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Pencil

How to make paper flowers:

1. Fold your coloured card in half, then in half again, then in half twice more
2. Unfold and cut along the fold lines to give you 16 equal pieces
3. Stack the pieces up and use a pencil to draw a tulip petal on the top piece
4. Repeat the process above with the green card, but this time folding it into different fractions to give you different-sized leaves
5. Stack the pieces up and draw differently-sized leaf shapes on the top pieces of card
6. Cut out all of the shapes with scissors — you can do this in batches, depending on the thickness of the card, drawing around one of the cut-out tulip petals on the top card for each new batch and repeating this for the leaves.
7. Once all the petals are cut out, fold each one in half along the vertical, but don’t fold the leaves
8. Glue two petals together along their fold so that the folded point faces upwards and they have a flat underside, then glue the flat side to the top of a green lolly stick
9. Glue two more petals together along their fold and glue their flat side to the reverse of the stick, lining up all the petals
10. Glue one or two leaves to the lolly stick stem

Credit: Good Food

Pool noodle boats

You will need:

• 1 Pool Noodle
• Scissors
• Coloured foam sheets
• Paper Straws
• Coloured washi tape
• Small container filled with water

How to make pool noodle boats:

1. Cut the pool noodle into pieces that are about 3 inches thick (you may need to ask an adult to use a serrated knife for this part)
2. Cut foam sheets into the shape of a basic sail
3. Use scissors to make 1/2 inch slits near the top and bottom of the sail
4. Thread a straw through the slits in the sail
5. Add a small amount of washi tape to the top of the straw to create a flag
6. Cut a triangle piece out of the end of the washi tape
7. Push the straw into the pool noodle — you may need to make a small hole in the noodle with scissors to help attach the straw
8. Put your pool noodle boats in a small container filled with water and watch them float!

Credit: The Best Ideas for Kids

Toilet paper roll frog

You will need:

• 2 toilet paper rolls or 1 kitchen towel roll
• Green paint
• Black marker pen
• White, black and red card
• Glue (extra strong or hot glue)
• A pencil

How to make a toilet paper roll frog:

1. Paint your paper rolls with green paint and leave to dry
2. To create the frog's eyes, trace around a small round object on the white card and cut the circles out
3. Trace another smaller circle on the black card and cut the circles out
4. Glue the black circles onto the white circles
5. Once the paper rolls have dried, glue the eyes to the top of the roll
6. Draw the mouth on with a black marker pen
7. Cut a small strip out of the red card to create a tongue
8. Curl the end around a pencil to make the tongue and stick it onto the frog's mouth
9. To make the frog's legs, cut 2 thin strips off another paper roll that you painted green earlier
10. Glue one to each side of the toilet paper roll
11. Draw a frog feet shape on the remaining paper roll and cut them out
12. Glue the feet to under the toilet paper roll body

Credit: The Best Ideas for Kids

Coffee filter butterflies

You will need:

• 2 coffee filters
• Baking tray or plastic container
• Washable markers
• Water
• 1 pipe cleaner (12″ long)
• An eye dropper or small measuring spoon

How to make coffee filter butterflies:

1. Place one coffee filter inside the other so they fit together well (place them on a baking sheet to help keep the mess contained)
2. Flatten out the coffee filters (they don't have to be perfectly flat, just flat enough that you can colour on them)
3. Colour your creative designs onto the coffee filters — you’ll be colouring on 2 layers, and some of the marker will leak through to the bottom coffee filter
4. Take an eye dropper or small measuring spoon and drip water onto the marker until the coffee filter is completely wet
5. Once the coffee filter is completely wet, stop adding water — if you add a big pool of water the colours will mix together too much, plus it will take forever to dry
6. Leave the sheets to dry — depending on the temperature and environment, you may need to leave them for just half an hour, several hours, or even overnight
7. Once they are dry, pull the two filters apart and fold each one back and forth, accordion style, in about 1/2″ folds (make sure the coffee filters are completely dry first or you’ll end up with messy fingers!)
8. Keep folding until you reach the end
9. Put the two folded strips on top of each other
10. Twist a pipe cleaner around the middle so that the two pipe cleaner ends point upwards in a big letter “V”. — trim the ends to make them even if you need to
11. Pinch the end of each pipe cleaner and curl it outwards to make a small spiral
12. Pull apart the folds in the coffee filter to open them up and shape your butterfly

Credit: One Little Project

Paper roll caterpillars

You will need:

• Toilet paper rolls
• A pencil
• Craft knife
• Scissors
• Green paper
• Yellow paper
• Black paper
• Glue
• A stapler

How to make a paper roll caterpillar:

1. Using a pencil, draw a line around the centre of your toilet paper roll
2. Use a craft knife to make a small opening in the pencil mark, then cut around the pencil line completely to split the paper roll into two pieces
3. Repeat with 2 other toilet paper rolls so you have 6 shorter toilet paper rolls
4. Cut out strips of green paper that are slightly wider than your shorter toilet paper roll and long enough to wrap around completely
5. Apply glue in a circle to the the inside of each edge of the paper roll
6. Apply a line of glue across the outside of the toilet paper roll, then wrap the green paper strip around the roll, securing with glue
7. Using scissors, make small cuts around the green paper to create small tabs (don't cut into the toilet paper roll)
8. Fold each tab into the paper roll and stick it down using the glue you applied before
9. Repeat on the other side, then repeat with the other 5 small toilet paper rolls
10. Cut a piece of yellow paper that's slightly shorter width-wise as your toilet paper roll
11. Roll it around your finger, then apply a line of glue at the edge
12. Place the yellow paper inside the green toilet paper rolls you made earlier and secure it with glue so it covers the inside of the toilet paper roll
13. Repeat with the other toilet paper rolls
14. Once the glue has dried, staple five of the toilet paper rolls together in a row
15. Staple the sixth toilet paper roll to the top of one of rolls at the end of the row — try to attach it at a slight angle
16. Cut out two small strips of yellow paper and use a pencil to curl the ends to create the caterpillar's antennae (or you could use small yellow pipe cleaners if you have them) and glue these to the top of the sixth toilet paper roll
17. Draw a the caterpillar's eyes and nose underneath the antennae (alternatively, you could use googly eyes or draw and cut out the eyes from white paper then stick it on)
18. Draw and cut out 8 caterpillar legs out of black card, then stick these between each paper roll

Credit: Paper Crafts Ideas

Tie Dye baby wipes

You will need:

• Baby wipes
• Elastic bands
• Washable markers
• Paper towels

How to make tie dye baby wipes:

1. Pinch the centre of a baby wipe and hold in your hand, then twist the wipe
2. Carefully attach a few rubber bands along the twisted baby wipe
3. Use washable markers to colour each section of the baby wipe — the more that the marker gets into the folds, the more vibrant the finished project will be
4. Continue using other colours of markers to complete the tie dye baby wipe
5. Once completely coloured, remove the rubber bands, gently unfold the baby wipe and lay it on top of two pieces of paper towel until it has completely dried

Credit: I Can Teach my Child

Cardboard woodland animal puppet

You will need:

• Pencil
• Cardboard
• Craft scissors or craft knife
• Paper plate or paint tray
• Washable paint (white and black)
• Fine tip paintbrush
• Small black pom-poms
• Glue
• Wooden ice lolly sticks

How to make a cardboard woodland animal puppet:

1. Draw a deer, bear and fox templates onto the cardboard
2. Using the craft scissors or knife, cut out the templates (an adult may need to help with this part)
3. Place a little black and white washable paint onto a paper plate or paint tray, then using the white paint colour in the ears and face parts for each animal (see the picture below)
4. Once the paint has dried, glue the small black pom-poms on for the noses
5. Add the eyes using the black paint
6. Glue an ice lolly stick to the back of each animal

Credit: Toddler at Play

Craft stick and cupcake liner fairy

You will need:

• Body-coloured paper
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Yellow paper
• Glue stick
• Pink and black marker pens
• Ice lolly stick
• Green paper
• Muffin paper
• Blue paper
• Body-coloured pipe cleaner
• Greek silk ribbon

How to make a craft stick and cupcake liner fairy:

1. Draw a circle on the body-coloured paper (you can do this free-hand, or draw around the bottom of a glass)
2. Cut out the circle
3. Use this circle as a template to draw another circle on yellow paper, then draw a small fringe shape for the fairy's hair
4. Draw another smaller circle for the hair bun and cut both of the pieces out
5. Glue the hair on the top of the body-coloured paper circle, then use black and pink marker pens to draw the face of the fairy
6. Glue the face of the fairy on top of the ice lolly stick
7. Draw a small rectangle with an 'm' shape at the top on green paper for the fairy's blouse, then cut it out
8. Glue the green blouse around the ice lolly stick under the fairy's face
9. Fold the muffin paper in half and glue it near the bottom of the blouse to create the fairy's skirt
10. Cut two arms out of the body-coloured pipe cleaner and glue them to the back of the ice lolly stick
11. Draw fairy wings on the blue paper and cut them out
12. Glue the wings to the back of the ice lolly stick
13. Make a small bow with the green silk ribbon and glue it to the fairy's hair

Credit: Easy Peasy and Fun

Bedroom door signs

You will need:

• Craft sticks
• Double-sided tape
• Red paint
• Blue paint
• Paintbrush
• Foam letters (for the name of your child)
• Glitter star stickers
• String

How to make bedroom door signs:

1. Lay 11 craft sticks next to each other with the long ends of the sticks touching to create a square (make sure the ends of the sticks are all in line with each other)
2. Stick a strip of double-sided tape onto another wooden craft stick and stick onto the edge of the square holding the ends of the sticks in place, then repeat this with the other side
3. Turn the square over, then stick a craft stick onto each edge using the double sided tape, creating a border
4. Paint the border sticks red and the inside of the square blue and leave to dry
5. Use the foam letters to spell out your name and then decorate with the glitter star stickers
6. Turn the sign over and attach a piece of string to the back with the tape which the sign will hang from

Credit: Baker Ross

Rock painting

You will need:

• Smooth rocks or stones
• Acrylic paint
• Sponge brushes
• Optional: Fine tip acrylic paint pens or small paintbrush
• Sealer (such as Mod Podge)

How to paint rocks:

1. Clean your chosen rock with soap and water then allow it to dry in the sun
2. Once the rock is dry, paint the top with a base coat of acrylic paint then leave to dry
3. When the base coat is dry, paint a fun design on top — you can also add small details using a fine tip acrylic paint pen or small paintbrush
4. Allow your rock to dry completely, then seal the rock to protect your design

Credit: Inspire Kindness

Minion pencil

You will need:

• Minion Pen Topper Template from Reuse Grow Enjoy
• Yellow felt
• Blue felt
• Grey felt
• Pencil or fabric marker
• Scissors
• Needle and embroidery thread in black and yellow

How to make a minion pencil topper:

1. Trace the templates onto felt in the appropriate colours
2. Cut the templates out
3. Place the grey strip onto the yellow base horizontally, near the top rounded end
4. Place the small black circle on the medium white circle, then place the medium circle on the bigger grey circle
5. Grab the three small circles together and place them carefully right on the middle of the grey strip
6. Use needle and thread to stitch all of this together onto the yellow felt
7. Use black thread to stitch a smiley mouth below the eye
8. Place the blue square cutout on the yellow base (match it along the bottom straight end)
9. Place the yellow base on the brown base
10. Use the needle and thread to stitch the pieces together, starting at the bottom of one side
11. Stitch all the way around to the other side, tie a knot or two and then cut off any extra thread (make sure to keep the bottom free of stitches)
12. Insert a pen or pencil through the bottom open end of the minion pencil topper

Credit: Reuse Grow Enjoy

Paper bag kite

You will need:

• Paper bags
• Scissors
• Yarn or strong string
• Ice lolly stick
• Scissors
• Crepe streamers
• Tape
• Optional: stickers, glitter, paint, crayons, construction paper, washi tape for decorations

How to make a paper bag kite:

1. Decorate the paper bag using whatever embellishments you have: e.g., stickers, glitter, paint, etc (if using paint, make sure it's dry before moving on to the next step)
2. Using scissors, snip a little hole on the bottom base of the bag (this will be for the kite string)
3. Cut a piece of yarn or strong string about 20 inches long
4. Tie one end to the middle of an ice lolly stick and feed the other end through the hole in the bag
5. Attach streamers to the open end of the bag using tape

Credit: Typically Simple

Paper plate snail

You will need:

• Clothespin
• Large pompom or cotton ball
• Craft paint
• Paper plates
• Small pompoms
• Paper
• Scissors
• Markers
• Googly eyes
• Glue

How to make a paper plate snail:

1. Attach a clothespin to a large pompom or cotton ball (this will work as your paintbrush)
2. Dip the pompom in craft paint and swirl it over your paper plate, starting in the centre and working your way outward, making a big spiral
3. Repeat this process with a different colour, filling in the empty space, then set aside to dry
4. Once dry, you can continue to decorate the snail shell with markers, paint or small pompoms
5. Place the plate on top of a sheet of paper, then draw the snail's head and body and cut them out
6. Cut out two smaller rectangles for the antannae and glue them on to the top of the snail's head
7. Glue two small pompoms to the top of the antannae and add some googly eyes onto the snail's face
8. Draw a snail smile with a marker
9. Glue the paper plate onto the snail's back

Credit: Super Simple

Handprint heart

You will need:

• Air dry clay
• Rolling pin
• Non-stick surface
• Heart template from Baker Ross
• Paper
• Scissors
• Plastic modelling tool
• Skewer
• Red acrylic paint
• Paintbrush
• Foam letters
• Mini gem stickers
• Ribbon

How to make a handprint heart decoration craft:

1. Take a third of a pack of air dry clay and use a rolling pin on a non-stick surface to roll it flat until it is around 1cm thick
2. Download and print out the heart template then cut it out
3. Lay the heart over the rolled out clay and use a plastic modelling tool to cut around the heart shape
4. Position your hand to where you would like your handprint to go and then press it firmly into the clay to create the handprint
5. Use a skewer to create two holes in the top of the clay heart, then leave up to 48 hours to dry
6. Once the clay has completely dried, paint around the handprint with red acrylic paint so that just the heart is painted and leave to dry
7. Once dry, apply a second coat of paint then leave to dry
8. Stick some foam letters on to personalise your heart then stick some mini gem stickers around the handprint to decorate
9. Cut a length of ribbon, then thread through the holes and tie with a large knot on each end to hold securely in place
10. Create a small bow from some ribbon and stick onto one side to finish

Credit: Baker Ross

• Check out our roundup of 30 air dry clay ideas for more inspiration

Carrot treat cones

You will need:

• Ribbon
• Scissors
• Pencil
• A4 orange card
• Double-sided tape
• Light and dark green tissue paper
• Googly eyes
• Marker pens

How to make carrot treat cones:

1. To create the shape for the cone, cut a length of ribbon and tie one end to a pencil
2. Place the tip of the pencil on the top left-hand corner of the card and hold the ribbon on the bottom left-hand corner of the card
3. Draw a line from the top left-hand corner to the bottom of the card, then cut along the line with scissors
4. Roll the shape into a cone and stick with double-sided tape (you can further secure with a staple at the top of the cone)
5. Place a strip of tape around the inside edge of the cone, then stick a sheet of the lighter green tissue paper inside the cone
6. Cut strips of darker green tissue paper and stick it to the lighter green tissue paper
7. Cut a length of ribbon, then tie it around the tissue paper
8. Decorate the carrot face with googly eyes and marker pens

Credit: Baker Ross

Cardboard Suns

You will need:

• Cardboard box
• Scissors
• Yellow paper
• Hot glue gun
• Yellow paint
• Orange paint
• White paint
• Optional: glitter

How to make a cardboard sun craft:

1. Cut the cardboard into long, thin strips to form the sun's rays — the length and width can vary on your preference
2. Arrange the cardboard strips on the yellow paper in a sunburst pattern
3. Secure the strips in place with glue
4. Once the glue is dry, take yellow, orange and white paints and start applying them to the cardboard strips with a paintbrush
5. Make a cardboard circle by tracing the outline of a lid or glass onto the piece of cardboard and cutting it out
6. Once the paint is dry, glue the cardboard circle to the middle of the sun
7. Add some paint lines and glitter to fill up the empty spaces

Credit: Kid Minds

Top picture: Getty

Craft stick crocodile

You will need:

• Ice lolly sticks
• Green paint
• Paintbrush
• Green pipe cleaners
• Zig zag scissors
• White paper
• Glue
• Small googly eyes
• Black marker

How to make a craft stick crocodile:

1. Paint your ice lolly sticks green and leave to dry
2. Once dried, take a green pipe cleaner and place it horizontally under the middle of the stick
3. Start wrapping the pipe cleaner around the craft stick, working your way toward one end of the stick
4. Once you wrap to the point that a quarter of the stick is still "unwrapped", stop
5. Pull out each end of the pipe cleaner at a slight angle to create the crocodile's legs
6. Repeat the process on the other end of the stick
7. Cut teeth out of white paper using the zig zag scissors, then glue them on the bottom of the ice lolly stick
8. Stick on two googly eyes on the top of the stick
9. Draw on nostrils with a black marker

Credit: Easy Peasy and Fun

Toilet roll cars

You will need:

• Toilet paper roll
• Scissors
• Paintbrush
• Paint
• Markers, stickers or paint
• Hot glue/gun
• 4 bottle lids

How to make a toilet roll car:

1. Cut a 'U' shape in the middle of the toilet paper roll
2. Paint the toilet paper roll your chosen colour and leave to dry
3. Once dry, decorate the toilet paper roll with markers, stickers or paint and leave to dry
4. Once dry, hot glue two wheels onto each side of the toilet paper roll and it's ready to play!

Credit: A Little Pinch of Perfect

Read more:

• 30 air dry clay ideas for kids
• How to press flowers
• Easy painting ideas for kids
• How to make your own bubble solution
• Best arts and craft toys and kits for kids