Children need to discover that there’s more to paper than just something to write on. What better way to stretch their imagination than to inspire them to create something extraordinary out of this everyday item?
A cut here, a glue there and a dash of glitter will transform the drabbest of paper into a work of art your kids will be proud of.
Amazing Paper Crafts For Kids
Below are 5 amazing free paper crafts to get your kids started.
1. Re-usable Felt Coffee Cup Sleeve
Felt coffee cup sleeve from MarthaStewart.com — template available here
Valentine’s Day is around the corner. Instead of cards, encourage your young ones to be more creative! Coffee cup sleeves are easy to put together and make nice presents to everyone, especially to mom and dad.
Heart cut-outs can be substituted with flowers come spring or jack-o-lanterns come Halloween.
To start, supply your kids with:
- Felt
- Fabric scissors and pinking shears
- Sewing supplies
- Craft glue
To make the sleeve:
- Cut felt paper into sizes the length and width of the cup
- Wrap the strips around a cup, pin the felt paper in place and take out the cup
- Sew the sleeve to lock it in place
- Trim the edges with pinking shears
- Cut out hearts (or other shapes that are appropriate for the season) and glue them to the sleeve
Thoughtful presents from kids to parents that the kids will enjoy creating and mom and dad will surely use all season.
2. Card Garland
Card garland from MarthaStewart.com — template available here
Do you have discarded cards (or colorful magazine glossies) lying around and waiting for a new lease on life? You can have your kids turn these into more interesting pieces of art instead of trash. Kids would need:
- Cards or magazine glossies
- Craft punches (if not available, just trace a round object or other shapes and cut out)
- Heavy thread
- Stickers
To make the garland:
- Punch out desired shapes out of old cards or magazine glossies. Cut out different sizes for more variety
- Attach each piece to a heavy thread with stickers
- Secure each piece to the thread by rubbing the sticker with a craft stick
- Hang!
3. Flower Sticks
Flower stick craft pic from Spoonful.com — template available here
Paper flowers are one of the easiest crafts to make. They are all-season crafts and definitely time-tested, but they never run out of style.
To make a colorful bouquet, supply your kids with:
- Card stock (purple and yellow, green and orange, red and white and other two-color combinations you think are eye-catching)
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Clear tape
- Bamboo skewers
To make the flowers:
- Draw flower patterns on the card stock (say, on the purple card). Draw them in different sizes for variety
- Trace round objects on the other card stock (the yellow card)
- Cut them out
- Paste the round cut-outs (flower centers) on the petal cut-outs
- Attach completed cut-outs on the end of bamboo skewers of different lengths using clear tape
- Arrange in a vase!
4. Whale Art
Whale art pic from Spoonful.com — template available here
Interest your kids with ocean life by making a wall art. This makes a more environment-friendly decor than seashells, corals or beach sand.
To start, your kids need:
- Teal, gray and white card stock.
- Scissors
- Glue Stick
- Black marker
- Frame
To make this whale wall art:
- Draw a whale figure on the teal card stock and cut it out
- Glue this whale figure on the gray card stock. The size of your gray square card should leave enough room for the frame
- Draw an eye on the whale with black marker
- Let glue dry before framing the wall art
You can encourage your kids to make other cut-outs like star fish, shells, or boats. Use appropriate colors for the card stock (like red-orange card stock for the star fish on a gray and white frame, or white shell on a gray and teal frame).
A collection of ocean-themed wall art looks better than a lone whale figure. And you can use these crafts to introduce your child into the interconnected of ocean life starting with the Whale Art.
More about whale paper crafts for kids (and templates) from Spoonful here
The sewing whale (above) can be seen on Etsy here
5. Fashion Eyeshade
Fashion eyeshade pic from KidsWorldFun.com — see it here
Are your little ones keen on costume play? They can start with easy-to-fashion Fashion Eyeshade! Supply them with:
- Colored paper (candy colors are the trend)
- Colored sequins and glitter
- Glue, scissors and pencil
To make this eye-catching eyewear:
- Draw an outline of the eyeshade on rectangular colored paper (start with 45cm x 10 cm)
- Cut out the shape
- Apply glue all over the eyeshade and sprinkle glitter on the surface
- Add sequins on top of the glitter
- Let stand for a few minutes to dry
From these examples, you can move on to more advanced projects as your kids become adept with scissors and glue and other contraptions that come with paper crafts.
The important thing is to get them started early, make sure they are safe around sharp objects, and appreciate their fledgling effort no matter how amateur the output.
Who knows where this little hobby of theirs might lead in the future?
Were these paper crafts for kids helpful for you? Let me know in the comments!
I found this article so good! Thank you so much! As a single mum it is hard to keep kids excited (short attention span)! I like to keep their imagination active, especially as they’re young and this is an amazing activity that you can do with your kids. It not only brings out the art side in your children, but my kids really loved making the flower sticks! These instructions were really easy to follow!
