The Ultimate List of Hundreds of Projects for Kids to Learn and Grow in Creativity
Hello my friend! Have you ever wanted to start teaching your child more about being creative or wish you had more ideas about how to start them on their creative journey? Knowing how hard it can be to find ways for your kids to be creative while being creative yourself, I’ve created a list below of some ideas as well as several articles that list out so many more fun crafts, arts, creative story telling and so much more your child can do to encourage their creativity.
The Ultimate List of Hundreds of Projects for Kids to Learn and Grow in Creativity
By Michele Thymmons
Weaving Loom:
These are typically used to make potholders BUT you can create so much more!!! Instead of weaving every other loop, do every two or three over and every two or three under or go crazy and don’t weave in a straight line!! Never know what you could make! Anything from round weaved pieces to octopuses to balloons and so much more!!! (all credit goes to our 7 year old who let loose and discovered alllll types of things you can do with this weaving loom!)
You can find these from Walmart, Target, Amazon to include refill loops with some examples in the pictures above - you can even take it to the next level with actual weaving. Etsy also has refill loops and frames loops and frames and just frames. If you want to start looking at weaving we’ve started an entire Weaving series along with several interviews of weavers all which can be found here and you can see more in the next section of weaving kits for kids :)
Weaving Kits for Kids:
Weaving is becoming more and more popular especially with kids. Weaving allows them to take so many different types and sizes and textures of yarn and create their own art piece that they can hang on the wall. AND these kits also have animal, flowers, and other shapes as well to allow the imagination to be free!
Etsy has a huge amount of these weaving kits and I’m also pulling together a fun list for all different types of frames (animal, shapes, and more) and will connect the link to the list here once it is posted. The wonderful thing about getting a kit from Etsy is that more often than not, the kit is created by weavers who will also be able to walk you through how to use if you have any questions or they’ll have their own YouTube videos about it. One of our favorites is Jelica is being highlighted in many of our weaving tutorials to include a recent Basic Weaving 101 and whom we also did an interview with Jelica of Loom and Fibre (who put together the tutorial for you) is starting up her own class soon to walk you through weaving and answer all your questions :)
Perler Beads:
These can be used to create all types of critters! Animals, holidays, letters, and so much more!! You can find these beads and frames in so many places and you can let your imagination run wild while creating new toys and wonderful beings with these beads! And we just used our normal iron with the wax sheet that comes with the beads kits to melt them. Some ideas will come with the kits but others we’ve been doing with designing are using the squares to make maps (greens for grass, brown for mountains, white for snow, sand for deserts, and blue for waters then black to mark a spot) - treasure maps or just exploring to make a made-up map. You can also create designs with the beads on the frames or even your own…the possibilities are endless :). You can even create 3D sculptures out of these! We’ve not tried that yet but I hope to see some of yours if you do that!
Some places we’ve found Perler beads and frames: Amazon (tons of choices as well as designs, see the clickable pictures above for several ideas to include for summer, Star Wars, Harry Potter and much more), Walmart (where we got our first ones), Target, crafts stores and more! Perler also has a website where you can sign up for inspiration for different designs in your email box! They have ideas for a snowflake wreath, mini beads, and so much more!
Creative Writing:
Night Zookeeperis a marvelous place for kids (primarily focused on kids 6-12 year old) to really let themselves explore their creative writing capability AND they might even see themselves published!! This wonderful platform allows kids to put themselves in the story and submit work to potentially even be included in the next Night Zookeeper book! Sometimes even the submitted artwork (like the red drawing from below) from a child can be included!!!
What’s also really cool about the Night Zookeeper is the ability to create your own heros in their own book such as:
Loop Yarn:
These yarns come in sooooo many colors and types of yarn and have become extremely popular recently. These are perfect for kids to try their hand at finger knitting. My favorite crocheter Toni of TLYarns has a wonderful tutorial about how to create your first blanket using this yarn! It’s a simple yet fun way for kids to create their own blankets for themselves, stuffies, friends/family or just give them the yarn and see what they do with it!! Sometimes you’d be surprised what comes out of it :). We have a particularly fluffy “stuffie bed” that is made from creative little fingers putting it together without any instructions. :)
You can find Loop Yarn at most craft stores to include Joann Fabrics, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and even local yarn shops. You can also find some at Walmart has loop yarns in many different colors, Target is a great plaace to find yarn and (so much more), Amazon which has several hundreds to choose from to include some of the ones below, and Etsy also has a ton of different loop yarns to choose from.
Painting:
You can use wasabi tape or canvas tape and have them put it on a canvas in all types of designs (geometric, shapes, outlines, etc). Use any type of paint (oil, watercolor, etc) to then paint over the top of this and once the paint is dry, have them remove the tape and see the masterpiece they created! You can even use chalk and water and so much more (see this YouTube video by Paper Treatments (see below) for an idea for floating chalk prints!!! You can also do pour painting, or just have TONS of fun with finger painting (or dare I say it…toe painting - just make sure they’re clean…or not that could add to the painting ;)
Other thoughts for painting - you can paint a bird house or doll house, furniture, or wood blocks, rocks or pots, and even do diamond painting (see below), and so much more! Paint by number paintings are a great way to learn to paint (I still have my pieces I painted so long ago :).
You can find painting equipment at many stores from Walmart, Amazon (great place for groups of canvases, tape and paints all in one place as well as fun painting kits for kids such as some of the examples above), Etsy has not only painting kits of all types (watercolor, oil, paint by number) but also pour painting, resin painting resin painting and much more!
Kiwi Crates:
We used to get these a while ago and we are looking at restarting a subscription for either Kiwi Crates or Atlas Crates. All of these crates help kids be creative, grow in their knowledge of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) or STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), cultural and geography, cooking, and so much more!!
STEM and Creative Subscription Boxes:
Amazon has a number of creative/craft boxes creative/craft boxes for kids that can be a subscription box or a one time kit. They also have a ton of STEM subscription boxes, kits, and toys to include an Amazon toy subscription box and so much more!
Articles with MANY more ideas:
And these are just some ideas we’ve done recently. However, there are a TON of articles out there written by amazing bloggers and journalist who have created lists that total in the hundreds of ways to encourage and help kids (and us adults) be creative! I’ve included some of my favorites below as well as others that have several that we’ll be trying soon!!!
Big Life Journal: Fostering Kids Creativity - this is an awesome article all about how to foster kids creativity going outdoors (one of the best FREE resources for all kids to grow in creativity).
14 Unique Ways to Foster Creativity in Kids is a great article on simple ways in every day life to help kids grow in creativity and grow in loving to learn.
BabbleDabbleDo has a amazing article on 80 EASY Creative Projects for Kids and is one spectacular article that I will keep coming back to for new ideas. :) These projects are divided into groups organized by topic - art, STEM, crafts and more.
Buzzfeed has created a list of 27 Amazing Creative Projects that even adults will love!! Some like painting with glue suncatchers or a galaxy nebula jar, I’ve got on my list to do tomorrow :)
Listotic built a great list of 29 Fun and Creative Crafts for Kids of which so many are great fun for adults too!! I love the DIY Lava Lamps and hand knitting, glove monsters are a perfect way to use those single gloves instead of donating them.
Parents.com also has a great list of Arts and Crafts articles on their website regarding a variety of different projects for kids. Anything from Pom-pom crafts, to how to teach your child to draw, to messy crafts that help stimulate brain growth and much more!
Thank you for joining us on this list of ways to encourage your child to be creative!! What have you tried from the list and loved? Or NOT liked? I’d love to hear from you, email me or leave a comment below! Have a great and creative day my friend!
Hello my friend, I would like to introduce you to a new artwork I am working on creating Crochet Painting. In many ways it is similar to mixed media artwork but uses crochet as a base. I’m excited to share this with you and show you more about my artists journey. :). Below, I have done the who, what, where, when, why, how of Crochet Painting and would love to hear any questions you have about it. I’ve also included several pictures of one of my works in progress.