Spring is finally here! With warmer weather, springtime flowers, and longer days, everyone is excited that winter is over. Whether your kids are on spring break or are just looking for something fun to fill an afternoon, a spring themed craft is a perfect activity. When I mentioned crafts for spring, our kids came running!
So, what comes to mind when you think of spring? Feel free to ask your kids! When I did, ours said they think of flowers, rain showers followed by rainbows, and bugs. With those ideas in mind, here are four craft ideas, as we picked our favorites to share with you here. Additionally, I suggested a vase craft for the fresh cut flowers we are so anxiously awaiting, which is also a perfect for a Mother’s Day or teacher gift, both of which will come in handy soon. We also picked a few crafts that allow you to use some recycled products to create a craft in honor of Earth Day, which is also celebrated this month. Any time we can sneak in a lesson about recycling and taking care of our planet, we do, since those lessons are so important. Each of these crafts works for various ages and developmental levels, so no matter what ages your kids are, they should be able to join in, sometimes with a little help. This is perfect for our household with kids ranging from 4 to 13! So, let’s get started –
Soda Bottle Flowers
Supplies – Paper, paint, food coloring, a straw, a soda bottle (smaller sized one), and a paintbrush
Directions –
1. For the stems of the flowers, your child can simply paint them, or have a little more hands on fun by putting a few drops of green food coloring on a piece of paper and letting your child blow the stems, as many as they would like, with the straw. It is fun and creates a unique look and effect!
2. Using paint you have poured into a bowl onto a plate, have your child dip the bottom of the soda bottle in the paint and place it above the stem, making a print. You can use as many colors as you would like, though unless you wash the bottle, you will need a bottle for each color flower.
3. Using yellow or orange paint, which is most common for flowers, have your child paint the center of the flower, or alternatively, they can also simply use a thumb print. Makes for a bit messier but more hands on fun! Let them dry and enjoy!
Rainbow Wind Catchers
Supplies – Paper plates cut in half, paintbrushes, paint in rainbow colors, glue or tape, and streamers, ribbon, or yarn in rainbow colors, cut into uniform lengths, unless you are doing the craft with older kids who want to do this step, hole puncher, and yarn, string or paperclips to hang them.
Directions –
1. Have your child paint a rainbow on the half paper plate. Depending on their age and ability, it may look a lot or a little but like a rainbow, but that is the beauty of crafts – no perfection necessary! Help as needed, of course.
2. Next, the kids can glue or tape the streamers, ribbon, or yarn to match the colors of their rainbow. Once again, you may need to help with this step.
3. Punch a hole in the top and hang the rainbows using string, yarn or even an opened paper clip. Watch them blow in the wind and keep an eye out for real ones in the sky!
Fingerprint Bugs
Supplies – Paper, paint or stamp pads, paper towels, and markers. This is one of our favorite crafts, as it is so versatile. Your kids can fingerprint these cute little critters on all kinds of surfaces such as gift cards, flower pots, ceramic creations, and more, to make cute gifts!
Directions -
1. Put paints on paper plates for easy finger dipping, and if you are using stamp pads, simply put the stamp pads out.
2. Have your child choose which critter they want to fingerprint, pick the color, and fingerprint away. Naturally they should wipe each finger between colors as they are designing their bugs.
3. Use markers to add any desired details, such as eyes, antennae, feet, etc. You could even add these bugs to the flower craft above, or create a fingerprint flower garden to go with them. Enjoy!
Mother’s Day Tissue Paper Vase
Supplies – Recycled glass container for vase (pickle, peanut butter, jelly, or other similar sized jar), tissue paper in a variety of colors, glue or Mod Podge to make the vase more waterproof, paintbrushes, a bowl, and water.
Directions -
1. Pour some glue in the bowl and add water so that it is thin enough to paint on the jars. If you are using Mod Podge, simply pour some in a bowl for painting onto the vase.
2. Have your children cut or rip up the tissue paper into various shaped pieces. They can be any size, but we recommend small to medium sized so they can add many colors to the vase.
3. Paint the jar with a thin layer on glue/Mod Podge on one part of the jar and layer tissue paper over the glue. Add more glue as needed, and continue until the entire jar is covered.
4. Once somewhat dry, the kids can add a second layer of glue/Mod Podge to make sure the tissue papers adhere well.
5. Once dry, put a candle or fresh flowers inside. Makes a perfect gift for Moms, Grandmas and teachers!
Happy crafting! Hope you enjoyed these springy craft ideas as much as we did, and if you made some with your kids, please post pictures in the comments below and tell us how it went – we’d love to see and hear!
Resources: http://handsonaswegrow.com, http://www.aprettycoollife.com, http://www.preschoolplaybook.com, and http://www.coffeecupsandcrayons.com
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