Children's Crafts: Easy Centerpieces

Children love crafts, and are creative sorts. Their imagination helps them to make an endless supply of art and craft projects for family and friends. Adults might start off the creative process by suggesting basic ideas for centerpiece projects, and allowing the children to build on these ideas as they see fit.

Baskets

Basket centerpieces are simple to make. Have children male these according to the current season or holiday. Give them pine cones and Christmas balls and allow them to fill the basket, as well as ribbon. Provides them with paints and brushes if they will be painting an otherwise plain basket, and ribbon to decorate the handle with. Fake eggs and Easter grass would go into a white or pastel colored basket for Easter.

Vases

Provide children with all of the elements to decorate and display a vase. Include a paper or lace doily for the vases to sit on, and ribbon for them to tie around the necks of them. Give each child a choice between marbles or pebbles to fill the bottom their own vase, and allow them to search nature for items to fill their vase with. Have them pick flowers during the summer months, or let them uses sticks and leaves during the autumn months. Cattails are a good option.

Cornucopia

Give children paints, brushes and Styrofoam balls. Instruct them to paint them to paint these like apples and pumpkins. Allow these to dry overnight, then have the children place them into the cornucopia with items found in nature such as autumn leaves and acorns. Tell them that it is customary to allow the fruits and other items to spill out around the open area of the cornucopia. Provide them with a place mat or other linen depicting autumn colors to sit their centerpiece on.

Pumpkins

Have the children paint two or more faces around their own pumpkin to serve as a centerpiece, or have them draw out faces for you to carve and provide them each with a tea light candle for their parents to light at home.

Cut the top off each pumpkin and clean it out, then ask the children to fill the pumpkin with soils after placing a few pebbles in the bottom for drainage purposes. Give them marigold seeds to plant, or seedlings for the marigolds or another autumn flower. Ask them each to cut a circle out of autumn colored construction paper to use as a doily to place the pumpkin on.