Kids Craft: Make Craft Foam Magnets

Many children like to use craft foam. It is a very adaptable material that you can do so much with. It comes in literally a rainbow of colors. This is a great material for young ones for lots of crafts. Making craft foam magnets can be a fun craft, especially if you are working on teaching your children about their shapes and alphabet letters. You can work on tracing the shapes and letters and then cutting them out. Looking at them on the refrigerator will also reinforce the learning and your child will have fun re-arranging the magnets while they are in the kitchen. The fun about this project is that your child will want to do this project again and again. You can make all different types of shapes and replace these - as craft foam is rather inexpensive material. This is a great project for toddlers and young children to learn about shapes and letters.

For this craft you will need:

Craft foam, various colors

Scissors

Pencil

Pen

Glitter pen

Markers

Begin this project by deciding with your child what shapes or letters you would like to make. A fun craft can be to make your child's name out of letters. Or perhaps you can make some of your child's favorite shapes, such as their favorite animal or favorite shapes. A great tip for making animal shapes: look at the clip art in your computer and use this as a guideline, often they have lots of animals listed.

A good size for most magnets is typically about three to four inches square. Larger sizes are hard for the magnets to support. Fortunately craft foam is quite light, so the craft foam will work easily with the magnets.

With your child, lightly trace on the craft foam in pencil the shapes of the letters or shapes you would like to make. Then help your child cut them out.

Once they have been cut out, your child may want to decorate them. Fun ways to decorate craft foam shapes include using small pieces of craft foam and gluing this onto it, using a glitter pen and drawing with markers. Get creative with the materials that look like the most fun for your child. Allow the project(s) to fully dry. When they have dried then add the magnet backings. Then they can be used as magnets and enjoyed on the family refrigerator.