This is the second article in the series, The Recession and Our Family.
Affordable Summer Crafts for Kids
Summertime provides endless opportunities for activities to do with your kids. But sometimes between the gas, parking fees and the inevitable ice cream or shaved ice, trips to the beach or the local water park leave your wallet feeling empty. Here are three ideas for affordable summer crafts for kids you can do with items easily found around the house or inexpensive materials found at any craft store.
Summer Kids Crafts Ideas:
Baking Soda Volcano
What you’ll Need: empty bottle or can, about 2 gallons of dirt or sand, vinegar, baking soda, red food coloring
What to Do: First, pile the dirt or sand into the shape of a volcano with your child. Carve out an opening at the top of the volcano and place the empty bottle or can in the opening. Fill the container halfway with vinegar and add a few drops of food coloring. Then add a tablespoon of baking soda. Watch the eruption!
Rainy Day Tip: On a rainy day, you could do this activity inside by mixing 6 cups of flour, 2 cups of salt, 4 tablespoons of cooking oil and 2 cups of warm water together for the volcano materials (you won’t want to bring 2 gallons of dirt inside!) and placing it into a baking dish. Then follow the same instructions as above, beginning with “Carve out an opening…”
Lollipop and Flower Gardens
What you’ll Need: green craft foam, buttons of varying colors, stiff construction paper of varying colors, green pipe cleaners, organic lollipops, scissors
What to Do: You’ll first make button flowers. Cut out the shapes of flowers from construction paper. Depending on the age of the children, simply cutting a circle will work fine. For an older crowd, star or tulip shapes would also work well. Have each child choose a button to place in the center of the flower.
Poke a pipe cleaner through your flower so that it comes up and through the first hole of the button, then poke it down through the next hole in the button and through your flower. Twist the short end of the pipe cleaner around the long end, as close as possible to the flower and button. Each child should make three flowers of different colors.
Cut the green craft foam into foot long pieces. Hand each child their own green foam piece. This is their garden. Now have the children “plant” their flowers and some organic lollipops into the garden by poking the lollipop stick or pipe cleaner into the green foam. The result is a colorful garden of lollipops and flowers!
Adapted from Kid-Friendly and Co-Ed Baby Showers by The Baby Bunch
Musical Rain Stick
What You’ll Need: Long cardboard tube (paper towel or mailing tubes work well), aluminum foil, uncooked rice or popcorn, packing tape, crayons or markers, other decorating materials (confetti, feathers, stickers)
What to Do: Tape shut one end of the tube with packing tape. Pour a heaping handful of rice or popcorn into the tube. Tear the foil into several one inch pieces and then drop them into the tube. Seal the other end of the tube with packing tape. Decorate the tube with crayons, markers and other materials. Then shake your new rain stick and listen to the sounds of summer rain!
