Spring Crafts for Children of All Ages

Craft projects abound for every season and occasion. Crafts are a great way to express creativity and foster the growth of imagination. The following are some excellent craft projects for spring to keep those little one's hands well occupied.

Easter Crafts

Decorate an Easter Basket - First you will need a plain wicker basket. Do you sew? Or does someone close to you? Get some fabric scrap materials and ribbons. Gather some sequins, buttons, embellishments, glue sticks, and glue gun. Little ones are going to need your supervision and help with the gluing process for this activity. Older children will still need supervision to avoid burnt fingers. Encourage them to use their imagination, glue the fabric they like around the basket, decorate the handle with ribbon and bows. Embellish with glitter, sequins, and charms.

Candy Carrots - These are a great gift idea and easy enough the kids can make several. Do you have a large family or attend a smaller church where the kids could pass out a fun, Easter treat? Get some clear icing bags, twist ties, green tissue paper, and orange candy. The candy can be whatever you would like, small candy like jellybeans work the best. Fill the bags with the candy. Then cut the green tissue paper into small squares. Twist the tissue a bit and stuff into the top of the bag. Seal the bag with a twist tie making sure you secure your carrot top.

Decorated Eggs - This is recommended for someone with patience and older children. My experience with this craft was when I was in Jr High and it took two of us to do this. First you carefully poke the top and bottom of the egg with a pin. This is a delicate process because the eggshell can break. Then blow the egg out into a bowl or sink. Rinse with water and sit on a towel to air dry. When the shells are dry, use craft or acrylic paint to paint designs on the shells. You can also use a glue gun to attach beads, sequins, flowers and other embellishments. The finished product is a gorgeous home made rendition of a Faberge type Easter egg to display. You can also spray the egg with a varnish to protect the shell and paint once it is dry. This requires patience as the shells are very delicate to work with. Younger children may struggle with this project because of the frustration when the shell breaks.

Mothers Day Crafts

Wooden Hanging Decorations - There are a few different variations of this, it depends upon what you can find at your local craft store or if you know a wood worker. I have used wood scraps that my Uncle had leftover when he was doing woodworking. The details would require him to scrap little heart cutouts that were perfect for this idea. Take a few chunky, wooden hearts and drill a small hole at the top between the two curves. Glue cord or yarn in the holes and connect two of them together. Paint the hearts whatever color you would like. Once the base is dry, designs or words can be painted on them. This is so simple any age can make this gift for Mom! You can also buy wooden plaques at the craft store and paint a design or sign for mom to hang on the wall.

Fake Flowers - Decorate a small ceramic pot with paint. Then fill it with a base material such as sand. Stick some pipe cleaners in the sand. Depending on the children's age you can then bend colored pipe cleaners around the stem to make flowers or you can use tissue paper or paper to make the actual flowers and tape them to the pipe cleaners.

Jewelry - Supply the younger children with string, beads, and charms that can be strung together. When they are done, add a clasp to the ends of the string. You can cut the string or cord to various lengths so that the children can easily make bracelets and necklaces.

Little Girl Crafts

Hair Barrettes - Let your child help you make spring barrettes for her hair. You can even match it to her Easter dress if you wish! These also make great gift ideas. Purchase a bag of metal clasp barrettes at your local craft shop. Look for ribbon that matches the width of your barrettes. Pick up charms, buttons, pearls, embellishments of your choice. You will also need a glue gun for this activity so plan to supervise younger children. Glue ribbon over the barrette, tuck the ends down and glue them as well. Embellish the barrette however you like, anything goes. If you are talented with ribbon and bows, you can also make a bow to glue over the barrette.

Spring Crafts

Wind chimes - If you like vintage, unique wind chimes gather up some old silverware around the house. Pieces of sets that no longer match anything or yard sale for some silverware finds. Let the kids help you polish them up. Then you or your spouse can drill a small pin hole in the tops of the handles. Have the kids thread string through them and tie knots so that the string will hold. Craft or home improvement stores should carry a metal bar that can serve as the top of the wind chime. Drill holes if necessary through the bar and thread your strings through that as well. The end result is a unique, musical silverware wind chime.

Clover Necklace - Need an outdoor activity to keep the little fingers busy? If your backyard is growing the small, white flower have the child gather a handful of these up. Sit down and show them how to tie the stems together and create hair wreaths, bracelets, and necklaces. This is a great activity to do on the warm days of spring and summer.

Memory Boxes/Jewelry Boxes/Treasure Boxes - Modify the name to call it whatever interests your child. Little boys love playing Pirate and the idea of making a treasure box is sure to appeal to them. You need a plain brown box, no bigger than shoebox. Your craft store should offer a variety of these boxes. Paint the box whatever base color you and your child desire. Allow it to dry completely. Gather together your old magazines, your child's old magazines, outdated colored ads from the newspaper, newspaper, and beat up picture books that are on the way to the recycle or trash bin. While the paint is drying, your child can be busy looking through the pictures and cutting out the ones that appeal to them. Pour some Elmer glue in a bowl. When the box is dry, use a paintbrush to brush glue all over the back of your picture. Don't soak the print in glue and brush excess glue away, you want it to dry clear not with huge globs of white marring the pictures. Arrange the pictures all over the box. When the box is properly decorated, brush a coat of paint over the tops of the pictures. Don't let it glob or bunch up, again the clearer it dries the better. Once the box is dry your child has just learned how to decoupage and has a great box to hide all their hidden treasures in!

These ideas are great to get your creative juices flowing with your children. Most of these can be personalized and modified to suit any personality. They are budget friendly and economical. Some of the things you buy such as the paint can be used on more than one project as well.