When I first received the message that school would be closed, I was sad and slightly terrified. My 4 year old son is in pre-k and his teacher was just coming back from maternity leave. The FUN we had been waiting for was about to start! I had dreamed of all the art projects that were going to fill up my refrigerator door, the field trips we were going to take, and the outdoor fun days that now were not going to happen. Also, how was I going to keep a 4 year old and infant entertained and happy all day, every day for weeks?
So I did what any self-proclaimed Pinterest mom would do and started Googling craft ideas. My goal was to fill our playroom walls with bright and cheerful, homemade artwork! Since most of the monthly budget was going towards stocking our pantry for the month, I wanted to find projects using some items from around the house. I did add a few essential items to my Walmart grocery pickup order for a grand total of around $10:
- washable, non-toxic paint
- glue sticks
- Kid’s craft ultimate fuzzy kit which includes enough refrigerator eyes to make any kid happy
Toilet Paper Roll Crafts
Since everyone and their momma was out buying toilet paper, toilet paper roll crafts were first on the list of projects! You can make pretty much anything your heart desires; ninja turtles, princesses, butterflies, googly eyed silly monsters, castles, rocket ships and the list goes on. You can paint them, wrap them in construction paper, attach pipe cleaners or googly eyes. Before I knew it, we had a whole family of little toilet paper roll characters sitting at our dinner table.
Mosaic Art
Next on my craft bucket list was side walk chalk mosaics. All the cool kids were doing it. But if I’m being honest, my 4 year old lost interest about 1.5 squares in which means I was left to finish. When I was finally able to wrangle him inside and away from the June bugs he was playing with, we sat down and created a painted canvas mosaic. I used painters tape to tape random areas and a big “G” in the middle. He enjoyed mixing colors and learning how primary colors can be combined to make other colors. We let it dry during nap time and pulled the tape, and voila his masterpiece was ready to hang on the wall.
Popsicle Stick Art
Easter is a bit different this year due to Covid-19. We won’t be able to attend church or family egg hunts, or Easter arts and crafts at our local library. So Easter crafts are a weekly activity right now to help us get in to the Easter spirit. We glued popsicle sticks together and cut shapes out of construction paper. The best part is it’s a tangible art piece that my son can actually play with!
Paper towel Butterflies
Our last craft of the week has to be one of our favorites. These butterflies are often made using coffee filters but since we didn’t have any, we improvised using paper towels. We used markers to draw on the paper towels then used a spray water bottle to wet them. Allow to dry then use a clothespin to secure the middle. You can add eyes and a mouth, pipe cleaner antennas, glitter to make the wings sparkle, etc.
Get creative with it! A child can see the beauty in so many items around us. What an adult may see as trash can be a treasure in the eyes of a child. We have spent many afternoons finding sticks, rocks, buttons, colorful pieces of paper, etc. and gluing or taping them on to paper. Lastly, when in doubt, just draw a rainbow. I don’t know about you, but I can’t look at a rainbow without smiling, and we definitely all need something to smile about right now.
