Keeping kids creative can be fun and easy. Utilize items commonly found around the home and encourage them to experiment in making their own crafts. These crafts don't have to be intricate or difficult and the kids will be more creative with a minimum of instruction. Use these craft ideas as boredom busters for a rainy afternoon when the kids have run out of things to do. 
Recycled Robot
Recycling household items to create art is a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. Gather household items such as food containers, plastic bottles, empty cans and toilet paper rolls. Use scissors, duct tape, glue and markers to make a robot or other sculpture with these items. Encourage the kids to make arms that move or use tin foil to add details to their creation. Once the sculpture is complete the kids may want to play with it for the rest of the day.
Food Art
Kids frequently get told to stop playing with their food when they are trying to avoid eating something they don't like. This craft will allow them to play with their food and eat the results. Use frozen bread dough in the same way kids use clay to create a sculpture. Follow the package directions on frozen bread dough to thaw the dough and let it rise. Divide the risen dough into equal portions for each artist. Once they have completed their sculpture let it rise again before baking in an oven preheated to 350 degrees. Bake for 20 at least 20 minutes and let the sculpture cool before eating.
Children who enjoy building with legos or blocks will like building with marshmallows and toothpicks. Insert a marshmallow onto each end of a toothpick to create a building beam. Use these beams to make buildings, bridges or other art. Insert more than one toothpick into the same marshmallow to create more complex buildings. Be sure to take a picture of the final sculpture before letting the kids eat the marshmallows.
Group Art
Art is often considered a solitary activity but it doesn't have to be. This activity will have everyone participating and creating an unusual work of art. There are two ways to do this activity, with clay or with paper and markers. Have everyone sit around a table and provide each person with a piece of paper and a single marker. Everyone is instructed to draw a straight line on the paper in front of them. Then they pass the paper to the person on their left. Now everyone is instructed to draw a circle on the paper in front of them and pass it again to the person on their left. Repeat the action with everyone adding a square, heart, curved line and triangle to the paper in front of them. Add other shapes and figures as desired. When everyone has drawn everything on the papers, show the results. It will be different every time. This activity can also be done with clay to create a sculpture. Each person has a different color of clay and they can determine what they want to add to each sculpture as it is passed to them.
These activities are fun and will encourage kids to think creatively. They are also great boredom busters for a rainy afternoon.
Recycled Robot
Recycling household items to create art is a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. Gather household items such as food containers, plastic bottles, empty cans and toilet paper rolls. Use scissors, duct tape, glue and markers to make a robot or other sculpture with these items. Encourage the kids to make arms that move or use tin foil to add details to their creation. Once the sculpture is complete the kids may want to play with it for the rest of the day.
Food Art
Kids frequently get told to stop playing with their food when they are trying to avoid eating something they don't like. This craft will allow them to play with their food and eat the results. Use frozen bread dough in the same way kids use clay to create a sculpture. Follow the package directions on frozen bread dough to thaw the dough and let it rise. Divide the risen dough into equal portions for each artist. Once they have completed their sculpture let it rise again before baking in an oven preheated to 350 degrees. Bake for 20 at least 20 minutes and let the sculpture cool before eating.
Children who enjoy building with legos or blocks will like building with marshmallows and toothpicks. Insert a marshmallow onto each end of a toothpick to create a building beam. Use these beams to make buildings, bridges or other art. Insert more than one toothpick into the same marshmallow to create more complex buildings. Be sure to take a picture of the final sculpture before letting the kids eat the marshmallows.
Group Art
Art is often considered a solitary activity but it doesn't have to be. This activity will have everyone participating and creating an unusual work of art. There are two ways to do this activity, with clay or with paper and markers. Have everyone sit around a table and provide each person with a piece of paper and a single marker. Everyone is instructed to draw a straight line on the paper in front of them. Then they pass the paper to the person on their left. Now everyone is instructed to draw a circle on the paper in front of them and pass it again to the person on their left. Repeat the action with everyone adding a square, heart, curved line and triangle to the paper in front of them. Add other shapes and figures as desired. When everyone has drawn everything on the papers, show the results. It will be different every time. This activity can also be done with clay to create a sculpture. Each person has a different color of clay and they can determine what they want to add to each sculpture as it is passed to them.
These activities are fun and will encourage kids to think creatively. They are also great boredom busters for a rainy afternoon.
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