Nowadays, it’s easy to find anything that can help distract your kids. Most of the time, this distraction will involve electronic gadgets.

Although it’s easy to rely on devices to entertain your kids, you should refrain from letting them spend their time on these gadgets. Meanwhile, you should do your best to engage with them.

You should find arts and crafts activities to do with them. That’s because such activities can help with their development.

Courtesy Of AGS Scientific

That said, here are seven arts and crafts activities you can do to keep your kids entertained.

Raised Salt Painting

Raised salt painting is an exciting twist to the usual activity of painting. All you need to have with you to do will be glue, salt, watercolor paint (liquid), or even food coloring if you don’t have liquid watercolor paint.

First, you draw an image using glue. After that, cover the glue drawings with salt. Make sure that you cover all possible sides of the adhesive. Once you do that, it’s time to start painting the glue lines, but remember to eliminate any excess salt.

A gentle touch of the brush with watercolor paint should help spread the paint around.

Origami

Origami is a decades-old traditional art form in Japan that will show you that you can make art with just a single sheet of paper.

Teaching this to your kids is an exercise for the dexterity of the fingers and the mind. Therefore, you’ll be occupying the kids with something, and you don’t need to spend a lot of money to do it.

There are plenty of easy origami instructions available online that can be as difficult or as easy as you want it to be. You can start slow and straightforward with them. It would be a good idea to get different colors of paper so that the creations look great.

Origami can help improve your kids’ fine motor skills and patience.

Marble Painting

What You Need:

1. Marbles
2. Small bowls or containers to hold the paint
3. Paint
4. Paper
5. A cardboard box that the paper fits into

With marble painting, the marbles will serve as your brush. Dip the marbles into the paint, then put it on the paper.

The paper should be in a cardboard box that should have short sides so that you and your kids can see what they’re doing in the box without a struggle. Roll the marble around by tilting the box here and there.

Slime Making

Slimes are great for sensory practices for your kids.

To make one for yourself, that’s safe for kids, mix 12 oz of glue, one and a half tablespoons of baking soda, and two tablespoons of contact lens saline solution. Add washable paint to create the color of the slime that you want.

You can add more baking soda if the slime is too sticky. If it doesn’t stick together, add more saline solution.

Dream Catchers

The mystique behind dream catchers, the story behind them is sure to keep your kids interested. Once you explain what they’re for, they’ll be doubly interested in helping you make dream catchers.

To make one, you’ll need:

• Embroidery Hoops (6″)
• Yarn (different colors)
• Feathers
• Pom-poms
• Beads
• Any decorative material

Stock up on all these things so that your kids can have the right decorations that they want for their dream catchers.

Sock Puppets

Sock puppets are a classic way of crafting toys with your kids. You can even create an entire stage for them to perform on by using a cardboard box.

It would be ideal to stick to a theme, like a fairy tale so that you know how you want each sock to use. It will help your kids get into crafting while also using some spare scraps that you have lying around the house.

Paper Mache

Paper mache is a cheap but fun way of crafting with your kids.

Paper mache can transform into anything, depending on what you want. It can be a sculpture, a mask, and even a bowl or a pinata. It’s a great way of letting your kids run wild with their creativity.

Like the ones on this list, arts and crafts are great for engaging your kids’ minds. At the same time, it can be an opportunity to bond with them without relying on gadgets. That way, your kids will get a holistic parenting experience from you, and it should help them grow and develop well.