Create & Connect: Fun Craft Ideas for the Whole Family

Engaging in craft activities is not only a great way to express creativity, but it's way to bond as a family. As the kids get older, the more us parents crave this connection. For us, it’s been about finding ways where we can step away from the craziness, screens and busy times to just spend time with each other.

Whether it's a rainy day, a holiday, or just a moment when the family can come together, we try to focus on finding ways and times that we can be in the moment and spend time together.

One of the joys of family crafting is its educational potential. It's not only about the end results and having fun, but also about the skills and traditions we can pass down to our kids through these activities.

Getting Started With Family Crafts

Choosing the Right Project

It’s all about picking the right idea- some projects might be a bust and that’s okay! We love to do seasonal projects whether it’s a holiday, season, or specific day’s such as Mother’s day or Father’s Day.

The goal is to pick a project that we can give a little freedom to our kids to be able to explore, make a mess, maybe a mistake or two along the way, but seeing their faces light up at the end when they are done is what makes all the prep, help, hair pulls and clean up worth it.

Think about age, skills required - whether there’s scissors, glue, paint, etc needed. Being mindful about the time you may or may not have.

Sourcing Materials

We always aim for what’s already available at home to keep things budget-friendly. We have a huge dresser full of supplies we’ve gathered over the years- foam paper, glitters, paints, ribbon, etc.

We look for items, like yarn for fun greeting cards or scrap paper for a collages.

• Common Materials:

  • Recycled paper

  • Non-toxic glue

  • Washable paint

  • Yarn or string

  • Crafting sticks or toothpicks

  • Modge Podge

Setting Up Your Crafting Space

We’ve made some stains and damage to our floors before, so we suggest having a designated and comfortable area in your home where you can spread out and get creative without worrying about making a mess. Also, be mindful that some projects may need to be left out for a couple of hours or even a day.

TIP: We usually cover the table with an cheap little tablecloth or newspaper for easy cleanup.

Seasonal Craft Ideas

Spring Projects for the Whole Family

Springtime is a great time to start - there are so many different ideas. Leaf’s coming back to life and the weather starting to warm up.

We love making bird feeders with our kids by using pine cones smeared in peanut butter and rolled in birdseed—this is a simple, easy, quick and fun activity that our kids enjoy.

Another favorite is planting an indoor herb garden, this takes a little work if you don’t have a green thumb. Trust us, we have failed with a lot of different fruits, veggies or different herbs, but getting our hands dirty and seeing our kids smile makes it a lot of fun.

Summer Fun with Beach and Nature Crafts

During summer, our goal is be outside as much as possible.

We like collecting seashells and creating seashell wind chimes.

We also try to go on family walks collecting sticks and stones as we go to create nature-inspired mandalas. Our daughter grabbed a dead worm and was so proud to stick it on!

These kind of projects not only stimulate creativity for our little ones, but also push us to get outside- exploring nature and enjoying moments together.

Fall Harvest Activities

Fall is all about the colorful leaves and fun holidays for us.

We like creating leaf lanterns by gluing pressed leaves around glass jars that can hold candles.

We love to get creative with pumpkins all month long with our pumpkin paintings. Instead of just carving a pumpkin, we like to color, paint, and create silly faces which allows our younger kids to be creative as well.

Winter Wonderland Creations

For Winter, it’s a little harder to go outside, but there are plenty of items that we can do inside to help us get in the holiday spirit.

A craft that gets us in the holiday spirit involves making holiday wreaths with red poinsettias, pinecones, and berries. There are so many kid-inspired ones at your local craft stores, too! These are usually foam or styrofoam which are great for those young ones who want to take control and “do it myself”.

Last year we spent an afternoon creating custom snow globes by using smooth glass jars, waterproof figurines, and glitter. Our daughters love Frozen so we always seem to gear those snow globes around this.

Eco-Friendly Crafts

Recycled Material Projects

Crafting doesn’t always have to be crazy and expensive. There are a lot of items that we get in our daily life that usually ends up in the trash that we have used. Plus, this is great or the environment and gets my wife fired up.

We often gather cereal boxes, egg cartons, paper tubes, and scraps of wood to create everything from homemade toys to decorative pieces for our home.

An innovative and safe craft for kids we’ve found is eco-dough! Which is all natural ingredients and we can create whatever scent we want with essential oils.

Nature-Inspired Creations

We start in the back yard for these!

Leaves, flowers, and branches can be transformed into whatever we would like with a little creativity.

Our goal is to create silly, unique and fun crafts from sticks, stone, leaf’s making different collages and there is always a lot of paint involved.

To ensure we are as eco-friendly as possible, we use non-toxic sealant for preservation.

Here are some items we often use:

• Natural Items:

  • Leaves

  • Pinecones

  • Twigs

  • Shells

  • Rocks

Educational Crafts

Science-Themed Crafting

We love the idea of creating a magnet fishing game where kids use paper fish, paper clips, and a homemade fishing rod with a magnet tied to a string. It's a hands-on way to learn about magnetism and is a good way to add some education in the mix!

Another cool and engaging project we came across was a rain simulator in a jar using shaving cream, water, and food coloring, illustrating the water cycle and weather patterns.

History and Culture Projects

If you’re interested in taking a dive into history and culture with craftwork, consider making a set of weather rocks.

This project can work for both young and older kids. Younger children find it exciting to play with rocks, and older kids can integrate the rocks into more complex scenarios.

Kids can also craft a dino-themed board game from a recycled cereal box to bring prehistoric times to life, making learning about different epochs interactive. Our nephew speaks dinosaur and has absolutely loved this!

Holiday-Themed Crafting

Halloween Spook-tacular Crafts

For Halloween, we love to create ghostly lanterns using mason jars, gauze, and flameless candles. They're perfect for setting that spooky mood.

Another hit with our kids was making pumpkin decorations out of paper mache— painting and customizing them is always a blast!

Christmas Time Wonders

When Christmas time rolls around, our home transforms into a winter wonderland. Trust us - it feels like we have more storage bins for this then we can count at times and organizing them in our garage a joy.

We’ve created wreaths, Santa’s, snowmen, and ornaments. We also enjoy creating personalized stocking – we let our kids pick out a plain stocking, then have choose whatever details they would like from paint, glue, pompoms, buttons, etc.- all coming into play to have them create their own!

Crafts for Different Age Groups

Toddler-Friendly Ideas

Toddlers require crafts that are safe and simple, we want easy crafts that also teach them different things in a fun way.

Our focus is on the creation and not the final product, these often make the best safe keeping for us to look back on later.

For instance, making yarn flower greeting cards is an activity that toddlers can participate in with some help.

This involves safe materials and can be adapted to their skill level. They enjoy the sensory play of the yarn and the freedom to create on their own.

Crafts for School-Aged Children

At a school-going age, kids are ready for more challenging crafts that require a bit more.

Activities like fabric bead-making encourages both creativity and skill development.

We've found that this age group loves to create something they can use or wear, so DIY projects like making duct tape beads are always a hit.

It's an easy project where they can mix and match patterns to create something unique.

Family Bonding Through Crafts

Collaborative Projects

One of our favorite ways to do this is through large-scale family paintings, where each member contributes to a single canvas, layering colors and shapes.

With this, there are no mistakes - each person can build off the last and do what they want.

Another great craft for family to do together is building a scrapbook.

Gather photos, mementos, and individually crafted pieces and compile them into a shared book. This isn’t just crafting; it's storytelling and something that you can all do together.

Remember, the goal when it comes to crafting. More often than not for us, the goal is not about creating something beautiful (most of the time they are not), but its about learning, growing, and spending time together as a family. Challenge yourself to do things outside the norm and change up that routine.

Organizing and Storing Craft Supplies

Organizing our craft supplies can be one of the most frustrating things, especially when our kids just throw everything back in, wherever. We currently have a wooden dresser but we’ve found that clear storage bins are the best though. We can easily see what's inside without having to rummage through everything.

We categorize each bin, labeling them with tags such as Stickers, Yarns, and Paints, etc so we don’t have to guess.

For smaller items like beads or sequins, we use stackable containers with divided compartments.

Below is a simple table outlining my go-to storage solutions:

An over-the-door shoe organizer serves as excellent storage for many craft supplies. The pockets are perfect for holding items like scissors, tape, and glue sticks, keeping them within arm's reach and out of reach out the little ones.

We've also found ideas and inspiration such as an Ikea Craft Table Hack to help with that organization.

Remember, the key to a well-organized craft area is to keep items accessible yet under control.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some simple and fun craft projects for families with young children?

Some great crafts for families with young kids include making yarn flower greeting cards and creating custom handprint artworks, like a family tree where each member adds their own handprint as leaves.

How can families make craft time educational for preschoolers?

Making crafts educational is all about engagement and learning through doing.

For preschoolers, we recommend crafts that incorporate counting, shapes, and color recognition. Working on projects that have them follow simple instructions also builds listening and comprehension skills.

What are some easy and affordable family craft ideas for a weekend at home?

Weekends are perfect for crafts that utilize household items, such as DIY Disney Pixar’s Characters made from recycled toilet paper rolls or custom-decorated picture frames. These activities allow for creativity without the need for expensive supplies.

What are some creative craft activities that families can do together?

Creative craft activities for families can range from making custom family t-shirts with fabric paints and stencils to building birdhouses. Other options include putting together a family time capsule. These activities encourage creativity and a sense of togetherness.