Best Bets for Summer Crafts

Keep your kids' hands busy with these fun art projects.

June 30, 2017

Addie Gottwald,

With kids out for the summer, parents are often in need of activities to keep their children entertained. Try these fun art projects and let your kids get creative.

Firework Paintings

In honor of Fourth of July next week, get your kids to learn to paint fireworks. All you need is paint, paper, scissors and old toilet paper/paper towel cardboard rolls. Glitter and the ensuing mess is optional.

PHOTO BY LEARNING 4 KIDS

Celebrate the Fourth of July with these fireworks paintings.

Build a Fairy Garden

Get your child to collect things from outside – rocks, moss, branches. Then get your hands dirty and help them make a fairy garden. Feel free to add a fairy house or a popsicle stick fence.

Photo by Sewing Bee Fabrics

Fairy gardens are a wonderful way for kids to engage with nature while using their imagination and creativity.

Squirt Gun Painting

Let your child express his inner Jackson Pollock. Buy squirt guns, liquid watercolors, and watercolor paper. Then head outside, pin paper to a tree and let your kid shoot ‘em up.

Photo by Fireflies and Mud Pies

Get your kids to make their own Jackson Pollock masterpieces.

Make Slime

Does your kid love making a mess? Make this slime and then head outside. Want to make it even more fun? Try this slime recipe made with Starbursts that your kids can even eat.

Photo by Teach Beside me

This colorful slime is non-toxic and edible!

Make a Bird Feeder

You can keep it simple and use cardboard rolls/pine cones, peanut butter and bird seed. Or get crafty – use an old milk carton and get your child to decorate a bird’s house.

Photo by Home talk

Use old juice cartons to make bird houses/feeders for your yard.

Sidewalk Art

Sidewalk chalk is a parent’s favorite. It gets your kids outside and requires little to no clean up. Make mazes, tic-tac-toe games, and hopscotch designs. Or take your kids’ chalk art to a new level and try these fun ideas.

Photo by Scrapbook Tendance

Get creative with blacktop art.

Seashell Crafts

Headed to the beach? Collect shells as a family. Then, later, get your kids to paint them or try these fun ideas to transform your shells into masterpieces.