One of the wonderful things about being a kid is being creative. Kids don’t concern themselves with talent, skill, or whether they possess some innate ability to create a piece of art. And they don’t really make a distinction between “art” and “crafts” like adults tend to do.
Kids create art and they craft it in the process of making it. How do we know that? Because a child will create a piece of art and then say, “I made this.”
So, the fuzzy-edged realm of arts and crafts don’t really have a clear distinction for kids. But adults seem to get hung up on it! In fact, one website offers this almost clinical definition of the two:
“Art is described as an unstructured and open-ended form of work that expresses emotions, feelings, and vision. Craft denotes a form of work involving the creation of physical objects by the use of hands and brain. Art relies on artistic merit whereas craft is based on learned skills and technique.”
Perhaps. But when it comes to kids, all’s fair in arts and crafts!
Art Projects for Kids: Keeping It Fun and Easy
Art projects for kids don’t have to be store-bought products – coloring crayons, white cardstock, and a kid’s imagination can be more than enough for some fun and easy art projects for kids. Here’s a few:
Handmade Cards
Perforated blank cards can be had in 8.5 by 11-inch sheets from most office supply stores or office supply aisles of department stores. Or these blanks can be cut from regular, lightweight cardstock.
The most common sizes found in prepackaged blank card products for inkjet and laser printers are 8.5 by 5.5 and 4.25 by 5.5 inches. These are great since they can be matched with standard envelopes later after your little artistic geniuses have done their magic.
For younger children, some guidance as to which panels of the blank card is to be used for a “canvas.” But, really, who says a handmade card has to follow old, stodgy rules anyway? The cardstock is great for coloring crayons, various markers, and other kid-friendly art tools. You probably want to stay away from watercolors or other water-based mediums, however.
Once they’ve made a batch of unique and original cards they can either add a sentiment to the inner panel, or let Mom or Dad do that bit, then they can decide who they want to send their gorgeous cards to!
Colorful “Stained Glass” Suncatchers
This easy project only requires a variety of colored highlighters, a fine-tipped permanent black ink marker, and a few sheets of inkjet transparency film. Oh, and if your child wants to frame the final product, a large sheet of construction paper can be cut out for that purpose.
Some kids will want to use rulers or straightedges to make black ink lines on the rough side of the transparency, while others will rather create some pattern in a doodle-fashion. The idea is to have a series of open spaces between the lines that can be colored in with the highlighters.
Keep in mind that the inkjet transparency sheets have a smooth side and a rough side – the rough side is the side you will work on.
Once the spaces have all been filled in, the “stained glass” suncatcher is ready to be framed and hung up in a window of your choice!
Crazy Collage Projects
The great thing about collage is that the choice of mediums is almost endless. While most of us may think of gluing pictures or two-dimensional objects to a piece of paper or cardboard, collage can be much crazier than that!
Inexpensive thin wood panels can be found in most craft stores and hobby shops, for example. These make great platforms or foundations for a collage as do paper plates, paper bags, or paper placemats. Just make sure that what you use is kid-friendly and easy for them to work with.
The only real limitation as to what can be used to create a collage is what can be used to adhere the collage pieces to the background or foundation.
And as for what kinds of things your kids put on a collage is virtually endless! From two-dimensional images or scraps, to three-dimensional objects like dry pasta, small pebbles, buttons, leaves, and on and on.
The Wide World of Fun and Easy Art Projects and Kits
In addition to the endless things your kids can do for easy art projects at home with whatever may be at hand, Fundemonium also stocks all kinds of artist supplies and craft kits for kids.
We have a wide variety of coloring books, paint by numbers kits, and form arts sets. If your kids are more into 3D crafts, we have those too for painting, fabric arts, paper creations, sculpting and more.
Creating art and making crafted items are some of the oldest and most fulfilling activities for humans – small and large. Whether the art or craft is made simply to be displayed, or to serve a functional purpose, it is still something that your child made and is unique to your child.
Kids, Arts, and Crafts: A Great Recipe for Hours of Fun
At Fundemonium, in addition to toys, games, and hobby items, you’ll also discover tons of great arts and crafts products for kids. And you’ll also discover that Fundemonium is more than a toy store – it’s a fun family experience, where families, artists, and crafters of all ages can meet and play.
At Fundemonium we offer a safe and friendly place for adults and children of all ages to experience creative fun along with a great selection of toys, games, and hobbies for your entire family. And we have an enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and friendly staff dedicated to helping you have fun!
We do our best to quickly respond to inquiries about arts and crafts (and toys!) through our website, but you can also find an answer to your question by calling us.
If you’d like to speak directly with one of our Fundemoniacs during our business hours, you can call us at (707) 540-0701 and look forward to seeing you soon!