Kid's Craft Project How to Make Homemade Place Mats

If you're looking for a fun project to undertake with your child then consider creating homemade place mats. Not only is it a great time making them but it is also a very functional and creatively decorative kid's craft project and chances are you will have just as much fun in the process!

The first thing that you will need is a base or background for your homemade place mats; consider a large sheet of construction paper for this purpose.

You most likely have a stash of old magazines, whether they be junk mail or something you have a subscription for if you don't plan on reading them anymore here is your chance to recycle them into something astounding. Get out your kid friendly scissors (this is one time when those crinkly edged scissors actually add to the final appeal) and stack of magazines and begin. Let your kid(s) sift through your discarded publications and cut out their favorite pictures. For older children consider creating an assignment involving a theme or color scheme for the selected images.

After you have a good portion of images ready to go let your child use a simple glue stick to affix these to their construction paper place mat base as they see fit; older children may be interested in arranging images based on a pattern or perhaps a collage that forms a larger likeness.

To top it all off is a great optional step, decorating the spaces between your cut-outs. For this you can use stickers and glitter held on by glue or even pressed flowers and plants. For the younger children access to multiple colors of finger paints is always a fun craft time idea.

Depending on what optional elements you used you may wish to let your new homemade place mats sit for a time. After this simply laminate them and you are done. A great creative touch is to use those wavy kid safe scissors again to trim the excess laminate and leave a neat border around your work.

As with all kid crafts add your own ideas and flares to this project and you will be sure to have the most unique place mats around. Remember, there is no right or wrong way to have fun during a do-it-yourself craft project with your child.