19 Super Cool, Surprisingly Easy Craft Ideas For Kids

Let’s be honest: a lot of children’s crafts can be pretty awful! And not awful in a cute way. Awful because it’s either too complicated, time-consuming, or just truly looks terrible. These easy craft ideas for kids will look great, yet be fairly simple to replicate.

The reality is that kids’ crafts need to be easy enough for them to replicate, yet still, look fantastic. And while kids’ crafts should never look like professional artwork, but they should also harness your kids’ skills in the best way possible.

It’s tricky to get the balance right! For that reason, we’ve put together some surprisingly easy craft ideas for kids that are also very, very cool.

Are you ready? Go forth and craft!

Crafts that turn into toys

What’s better than a craft activity? A craft activity that becomes a toy! Once complete, your kids can play with these ingenious creations.

Popsicle snakes, tin can robots, wooden gnomes, and binoculars will fill hours of fun for the kids. The marionette and sock puppets are sure to be played with time and time again. The sponge boat will become a permanent fixture at bath time.

1. Articulated Snakes

From Kids Craft Room.

2. Crazy Robots

From Fun at Home with Kids.

2. Colourful Gnomes

From One Hundred Dollars a Month.

3. Animal Marionettes

From Art Bar Blog.

Practical beauty

While art for art’s sake is totally acceptable (see the section below), it’s always a treat for the kids to create something they can make use of down the track. The below easy craft ideas for kids are fun to make, yet they’re also useful!

The bookmark is a great one for the older kids or for kids looking to DIY a gift for a friend or family member. The animal plates and bowls are so fun and colourful, they’ll be very hard to let go of.

And in terms of beautiful, practical things, the galaxy jar (excuse the pun!) is out of this world.

4. Paper Plate Animals

From First Palette.

5. Perler Bead Bowls

From Happiness is Homemade.

6. Watercolour Bookmark

From Happy Hooligans.

7. Galaxy Jars

From Mom Dot.

Reusable designs

In a world where so much plastic ends up in the sea affecting our planet negatively, the more we can reuse, the better! Some recycled crafts can end up looking pretty crummy, but these activities make great use of materials: buttons, egg cartons, and cassette tapes. Some of these ideas are great for older kids while the others would suit little ones.

8. Button Tree

From Simply Designing.

9. Egg Carton Caterpillars

From Creative Green Living.

10. Cassette Animals

From Handmade Charlotte.

Ornamental arts and crafts

Get your kids passionate about decorative arts and they’ll be house proud before you know it. These easy crafts ideas for kids can be used to decorate your home, and they’ll continue to be a constant reminder of the creativity of your little ones!

Hop online and, together, you can use an easy tool to DIY a canvas collage. Discover endless photo collage ideas to brighten your heart and home.

Other indoor ideas include a yarn vase, a jellyfish mobile, a dreamcatcher, cotton wool trees, and a wire sculpture.

If your little ones want to decorate the outdoors, they’re in for a treat with innovative craft butterflies and flowers – or they can light up the night with a fabulous firefly.

11. Photo Collage

From Canvas Factory.

12. Butterfly Craft

From Kids Craftroom.

13. Fireflies

From Apartment Therapy.

14. Cotton Wool Trees

From Let’s do Something Crafty.

15. Wire Sculpture

From Babble Dabble Do.

Wearable art

Often, craft jewellery is made then shoved in a drawer somewhere, never to be seen again. These easy craft ideas for kids are affordable, yet will continue to make an appearance long after the activity is over.

16. Pasta Necklace

From CBC Parents.

17. Glitter Bracelets

From Babble Dabble Do.

For Art’s Sake

Remember it’s perfectly OK to simply craft for craft’s sake. These activities are all gorgeously creative pure art.

Featuring lots and lots of colour, it’s time to create a rainbow collage, paint rocks, design some clever stained glass, and, most importantly, fire up that creative spark!

18. Monster Rocks

From Makoodle.

19. Stained Glass

From Powerful Mothering.

We hope these easy craft ideas for kids have inspired you to get creative. If you want to create a canvas print or collage, check out Canvas Factory for more ideas!