DIY

51 Fun & Easy Crafts for Kids to Keep Tiny Tots Busy in 2025

by: Christine Dayton

Published on Mar 11th 2025

Many great crafts for kids keep your children engaged — for hours and without much fuss or planning. Picking the right craft also helps make a rainy day more fun, a day off of school educational or preparations for a birthday party or holiday gathering interactive. These crafts are also fantastic for teaching and building essential skills.

What are the best crafts for kids? What’s the easiest craft to learn and teach your children? We’ll look at several popular crafts for home and school, the supplies you’ll need to accomplish them. We'll also take a look at how to make craft projects fun and engaging for children of all ages.

Easy Crafts for Kids at Home

1. Friendship Bracelets

Whether you have a Swiftie kiddo or a child who simply loves jewelry, making friendship bracelets is a fun and easy craft for kids. Gather jewelry string, clasps and a selection of beads. Encourage them to mix colors and create patterns to make their bracelets unique. Get inspired with these Taylor Swift friendship bracelet ideas.

2. Toilet Paper Roll Binoculars

This simple craft for kids requires minimal time and supplies. Take two empty toilet paper rolls and glue them together. Then, decorate the binoculars with markers, stickers, beading, glitter or paint. Attach string and plan a fantasy safari to continue the fun!

3. Sock Puppets

Making sock puppets is a great Christmas craft, Thanksgiving craft or Winter craft for kids because it's cozy and passes some good time while being cooped up indoors during frightful weather. It encourages imaginative play, creativity and storytelling. The puppets are easy to make with old socks and simple supplies like buttons, small gems, markers, yarn and fabric scraps. Your child will build fine motor skills while completing this fun and easy craft for kids.

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4. Milk Carton Birdhouse

Transform empty milk cartons into crafts for kids that help the birds in cold climates. They can paint, decorate and personalize their birdhouses with markers, stickers, twigs and leaves. This craft encourages creativity and teaches children about responsible recycling. They can also make friends with the birdies that continue to visit.

5. Pinecone Bird Feeders

Help birds find even more food with this craft for kids. Make pinecone feeders by spreading creamy peanut butter on a pinecone, rolling it in bird seed and hanging the bird feeder outside with string. You’ll attract birds to your yard, which your children can watch and enjoy.

6. Tissue Paper Suncatchers

Experiment with color and texture by making visually stunning tissue paper suncatchers. This craft for kids involves gluing different sizes and shapes of tissue paper onto contact paper to create a unique design that comes to life in a sunny window.

7. Cookie Decorating

Decorating cookies is a festive craft for kids that works well during the holiday season, particularly Christmas cookie ideas. With some homemade or store-bought sugar cookies and sprinkles, icing and cookie cutters, you can create unique designs that are fun to make and even better to eat! You can also host a cookie decorating party or a cute cookie exchange.

8. Pipe Cleaner Animals

Twisting and turning pipe cleaners into animals can be super fun crafts for kids. It requires minimal materials and sparks imagination while encouraging hand-eye coordination. Bend and shape pipe cleaners into various animal forms, such as dogs, cats, spiders or fantastical creatures.

9. Origami Art

Use paper and basic folding techniques to create fun and intricate origami designs. Kids can start with easy projects like cranes, boats or frogs before moving to more complex creations. According to Forbes magazine, crafting projects such as this helps improve concentration, refines motor skills and increases spatial awareness.

10. Wreath Making

Kids can express their creativity while making wreaths. This is an excellent option for kids' crafts at home because it uses simple materials like paper, cardboard, fabric or natural items. Decorate each unique wreath with pom-poms, artificial flowers, buttons or leaves.

11. Silly Face Windsocks

Choose fun and silly crafts for kids that incorporate movement by designing windsocks. Kids can decorate a simple paper tube with bright colors and ribbons and then hang it outside to watch the wind make it spin, dance and sway.

Useful Crafts for Kids

12. DIY Bookmarks

Create DIY bookmarks by having your children cut cardstock paper and add decorations like drawings, glitter and glued accents. This is a fun way to encourage reading while helping children develop hand-eye coordination.

13. Homemade Picture Frames

Glue popsicle sticks together and add decorations to make creative picture frames. These fun crafts for kids allow creativity, personal expression and the chance to display favorite photos with colorful, customized designs.

14. Decorated Lanyards

Personalizing and decorating lanyards combines creativity with functionality. These easy crafts for kids involve adding stickers, paint marker designs and other decorative features to pre-purchased lanyards.

15. Painted Coasters

Create personalized, practical items that can be given as gifts or used at home by painting coasters. These creative crafts for kids involve adding designs to wooden or plastic coasters. Hand your child a paintbrush, and let them use their imagination.

16. Personalized Keychains

Designing personalized keychains is a fun craft to try with your children. You can use paint markers, vinyl cutouts, glitter and beads to create unique keychains that can be used by family or given as gifts to friends.

17. Painted Plant Pots

Purchase simple clay pots and let your children decorate them using paints and glued-on embellishments. Then, plant your favorite seeds, water them and watch the garden grow for creative and nature-focused crafts for kids.

18. Homemade Sketch Book

Staple small pieces of blank paper together and decorate the cover using markers or glued-on embellishments to make personal-sized notebooks for drawing. Encourage your child to fill the pages with their artwork so that their imagination can thrive.

19. Wall Hangings

Invite your children to get creative with yarn, beads, sticks and natural materials as they make wall hangings. You can display this craft for kids in your home or give it as a gift.

20. Decorated Tote Bag

Use fabric markers or paint to add color and designs to canvas tote bags. These useful crafts for kids are fun to make and can be used for groceries, books or household items. The finished bags are personalized and make lovely gifts for family and friends. Go a step further with the older kids by purchasing or creating wooden stencils for even more enhanced creativity.

21. Metal Can Pencil Holders

Transform a metal soup can into a functional pencil holder by cleaning it, wrapping it in paper and drawing designs or adding decorative details. This functional craft for kids makes a great addition to your home office or gift for your child’s teacher, family or friends.

Easy Crafts for Kids With Paper

22. Paper Flowers

Paper flowers are a fun and easy craft for kids. They require only a few simple materials and little instruction or supervision. Kids can create different flower shapes, colors and sizes, anything from lilies to roses. This activity encourages creativity and fine motor skills, allowing kids to make beautiful decorations or gifts.

23. Collage Self Portraits

Have your child create a self-portrait using cut-out magazine images, crafting the images to form facial features or even as a background, providing a unique approach to expressing identity through art.

24. Handprint Art

Handprint art is a lovely keepsake and can be super fun crafts for kids. Your child can create art by pressing their hand into wet paint and then onto paper. Cut the handprint out, laminate it, and attach a ribbon or string for a special DIY Christmas ornament.

25. Paper Lanterns

Craft up Paper Lantern — *Craft some paper lanterns (via Canva)*

Fold and cut thin sheets of paper to create decorative lanterns. Place a tea light candle inside to illuminate them. Kids can decorate this craft with designs and use them for the holidays or as party decorations.

26. Homemade Greeting Cards

Store-bought greeting cards are thoughtful, but homemade greeting cards are personal. With colorful cardstock paper, markers, gems or natural elements to attach and a dose of creativity, your child can make unique cards for family and friends that will touch their hearts and spark joy.

27. Paper Mosaics

Make paper mosaics by cutting or tearing paper into small shapes and then gluing them onto a larger piece of paper to form a new design. These crafts for kids build fine motor skills and encourage patience and focus as kids piece together pictures. Paper mosaics allow kids to create beautiful, vibrant artwork that’s as unique as they are.

28. Cut-Out Puppets

Spark imagination by having your children cut out paper puppets, decorate them and then use them to tell a story. These crafts for kids combine art, storytelling and hands-on creativity, providing opportunities for self-expression.

29. Paper Plate Masks

Transform a simple paper plate into a magical creature by making a mask with it. Children can design their masks however they like and put them on as they act out scenes. This is one of the more interactive crafts for kids to enjoy in a group.

30. Paper Snowflakes

Paper and scissors are all it takes to cut snowflakes for your holiday designs. Simply fold the paper and cut out shapes. Unfold, and you have your snowflakes. Leave them plain, or decorate them with glitter dust and gems.

31. Table Runner

Have your children make a homemade table runner to use at meal times. A long sheet of paper and markers are all you’ll need for these crafts for kids. It's not only for your little ones, your guests will also love the whimsical nature of your personalized spread.

Unique Craft Ideas for Kids

32. Slime

Find out how to make slime at home with glue, baking soda and glow-in-the-dark paint or glow powder. This is a fun, interactive and tactile craft for kids where they can turn out the lights and watch it glow!

33. Nature Prints

Combining art and nature allows kids to create beautiful, textured designs using leaves, flowers, and other natural materials. These crafts for kids form creative options to help children develop hand-eye coordination, an eye for design and an appreciation for nature.

34. Rainbow Rice Art

Dye uncooked, long-grain rice in vibrant colors and glue the strands onto paper to make colorful, textured artwork. Children can create abstract designs, patterns or pictures with these crafts for kids. It also teaches patience and concentration.

35. Felt Storyboard

Cut circles, triangles or squares, characters and various backgrounds from felt, and then let your kids arrange and rearrange them on a felt board. These crafts for kids are excellent storytelling tools that spark creativity.

36. CD Mosaic

What should I do with old CDs? With this unique craft for kids, you can turn them into shiny mosaics. This fun art project combines creativity with recycling by transforming unwanted CDs into brilliant, bright, eye-catching displays. It also encourages the use of fine motor skills and spatial awareness. If you're looking for arts and crafts projects for adults that also work for kids, this is the one to try, mixing nostalgia with creativity.

37. Vinyl Cut Decorated Can Koozies

Let your older child use your vinyl cutter to create fun designs and cute sayings. Then, adhere the vinyl to blank can koozies. These crafts for kids can also double as great gifts and are also functional for the home.

38. Painted Miniature 3-D Printed Animals

If you have a 3-D printer, create something unique by printing animals and letting your children paint them. Painting tiny figures is a great way to develop hand-eye coordination and small motor skills while building a sense of accomplishment while creating.

39. DIY Lava Lamp

Create a simple lava lamp by combining water, oil, food coloring and an Alka-Seltzer tablet inside a plastic soda bottle. This quick, fun and mesmerizing craft for kids is sure to keep their attention!

40. Embroidery Designs

Teach your child embroidery, a creative craft for kids that helps them understand basic sewing skills and use hand-eye coordination. Using an embroidery hoop, needle and various colors of thread, they can add fun phrases, texture and unique designs to blankets, clothing, pillows and wall hangings.

41. Metal Embossing Art

Use thin aluminum or tin sheets and embossing tools to press and shape the metal into unique designs. Afterward, add paint or other elements to the embossed artwork or use it to create stamps. This fun craft for kids is an excellent introduction to making plates for printmaking designs.

Easy Craft Ideas for Kids at School

42. Paper Plate Animals

Have students design and create animals using paper plates, markers and other craft materials. They can make animal faces representing different species, cultures or historical periods.

43. Salt Dough Ornaments

A mixture of flour, salt and water makes simple salt dough ornaments that your students can decorate as one of the top holiday crafts for kids. The ornaments make cherished gifts for parents.

44. Tie-Dyed T-Shirts

Set up tie-dye stations and have children bring in white t-shirts for a fun school project that sparks creativity. This is an excellent craft for a classroom full of kids before a field trip or for exciting team spirit week ideas. The dyed t-shirts can represent your classroom.

45. Recycled Sculptures

Encourage students to work in groups and build sculptures from recycled materials, such as cardboard, plastic bottles, recycled mail or bottle caps. This unique project teaches sustainability, teamwork and creativity.

46. Printmaking with Foam Sheets

Show students how to carve simple designs into foam sheets, then use them as stamps to create multiple prints on paper or fabric. These printmaking crafts for kids make an excellent introduction to book printing.

47. Fictional World Maps

Students learn about geography and cartography (map-making) while creating maps of fictional worlds using collage techniques. They can cut out magazine clippings or different materials to represent various features, such as mountains, oceans and cities.

48. Color Wheels

Creating color wheels using paints, markers or colored pencils is a great way to learn about color theory. Students can use complementary or analogous colors to create wheels that showcase their understanding of the color spectrum.

49. Pop-Art Style Portraits

A fantastic way to engage students while studying Andy Warhol paintings and other Pop Art masters is to let them create their own pop art. This craft involves providing each student with a canvas and a paintbrush. You might also share images of Campbell Soup cans and other pieces to spark creativity.

50. Animal Habitat Dioramas

Using cardboard boxes and craft supplies, this craft encourages children to create dioramas of different animal habitats, such as a rainforest, ocean or desert. This project combines art with science, teaching the kids about ecosystems.

51. Board or Card Games

DIY board games — *Get creative with a* *DIY board game (via Canva)*

Have your students create board or card games as a fun way to learn about history, math or science. Encourage creativity as they build the board or create questions for the cards. Students can use their games as interactive tools for studying and learning.

Crafts for Kids FAQs

What is Craft-Making for Kids?

Craft-making for kids include activities that involve fun, hands-on creativity where children create art using various materials like paper, glue, fabric, beads, paint, and more. It encourages creativity, problem-solving, and fine motor skill development. It's a great way to learn and build essential skills while dipping into personal creativity. Whether cutting snowflakes, making bird feeders or birdhouses, painting portraits or using recycled materials to create sculptures, children pass the time meaningfully when they engage in craft projects.

By purchasing a few simple supplies and getting your children or your classroom excited about a unique project, you will spark their imagination and create incredible keepsakes or gifts that families can cherish for years to come.

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