101 Amazing Crafts for Kids to Do at Home

We’ve been home-schooling for the last 12 years, so we’ve got plenty of experience when it comes to keeping kids busy when they’re at home all day long.

I’ve compiled a big list of over 100 DIY and craft activities to help you keep your kids occupied.

Two boys playing with plastic bricks in a white room.
Pixabay / Victoria Borodinova

I’ve split these crafts for kids into older and younger age groups but of course this isn’t set in stone – just choose the things that your kids will enjoy from either list.

Some older kids will probably enjoy doing some of the younger messier crafts!

For Younger Kids:

 1. Download coloring sheets from the Internet 2. Baking (you do most of it, and they just stir the mixture if they are very young) 3. Decorating biscuits with icing (ones you’ve made or plain ones from your store cupboard) 4. Make zoo animal pictures from old newspapers https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/zoo-animal-crafts/
Four brightly-colored zoo animal faces made from painted paper, including a hippo, giraffe, frog and lion.

5. Practise times tables in a fun way – jump on numbers drawn on big sheet of paper on the floor, or use small objects (buttons, beads etc.) for counting

6. Make colorful butterflies from old paper

https://www.craftideas.info/html/butterflies_craft_i.html

5 painted paper butterflies on a pink background.

7. Draw with pavement chalks in your garden

8. Make playdough 

9. Teach them how to knit

10. Decorate their own pizza bases

11. Make paper boats and float them in the bath

A red paper boat followed by four smaller blue and green paper boats.
Pixabay / padrinan

12. Make pom-poms from left-over wool

13. Make glow in the dark fluffy slime

https://onelittleproject.com/glow-in-the-dark-fluffy-slime/

Three blobs of brightly-colored slime on a dark background.
OneLittleProject.com

14. Salt painting

15. Play indoor bowling – use plastic bottles as skittles

16. Make pipe cleaner flower rings

https://onelittleproject.com/pipe-cleaner-flower-rings/

A hand wearing 4 colorful flower shaped rings made from colored pipecleaners.
OneLittleProject.com

17. Sponge or potato stamper painting

18. Turn a cardboard box into a car

19. Create mosaics from little buttons

20. Try some easy science experiments:

https://mommypoppins.com/kids/50-easy-science-experiments-for-kids-fun-educational-activities-using-household-stuff

21. Make pictures from paper plates

22. Make fake snow

23. Paint a field of tulips with Q-tips

https://www.projectswithkids.com/field-of-tulips-q-tip-painting/

Two paintings side-by-side with blue mountains and rows of different colored-dots representing tulips in the foreground.

24. Make paper mache hot air balloons

25. Create sun catchers from tissue paper and cardboard

26. Race balloon powered cars

27. Make a fruit rainbow for breakfast

https://twohealthykitchens.com/fruit-rainbow-pot-gold-fun-breakfast-idea-kids/

A rainbow made from fruit pieces on a white plate with a poached egg representing the pot of gold.
TwoHealthyKitchens.com

28. Make a marble run from cardboard tubes and sticky tape

29. Make peg dolls

30. Make a collage with seashells

31. Make mouse finger puppets from paper cones

32. Use chalk pastels to paint stunning tulips

https://www.projectswithkids.com/chalk-pastel-tulip-art-project/

Two pastel drawings of tulips, a purple one on the left and a yellow and red one on the right, each with a blue background on black paper.

33. Make paper Chinese lanterns

34. Melted crayon art

35. Press flowers

36. Paint using flowers as brushes

37. Make home-made bubble solution

38. Make paper snowflakes

A basket of pinecones in the top left, and three paper snowflakes, a set of scissors and clippings from making the snowflakes, all on a wooden table.
Pixabay / Olga Mar

39. Recycle play-doh containers into tiny plant pots

40. Build a tent with blankets

41. Bake pirate cup cakes

https://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/pirates-awesome-fondant-yucky.html

42. Learn finger knitting

43. Read your favorite childhood books to your kids

44. Make apple monsters

https://twohealthykitchens.com/apple-monsters-a-nut-free-healthy-halloween-treat/

Green and red monsters made from apples and fruit

45. Listen to an audio book, then make a picture together about the story

46. Paint butterflies (by folding the paper in half)

Colorful painting of a butterfly
Pixabay / prawny

47. Make collages by cutting pictures from old magazines

48. Draw round your child on a huge piece of paper, and decorate with clothes, hair etc.

49. Try kids yoga (lots of videos on YouTube)

Child in a green t-shirt sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed.
Pixabay / truthseeker08

50. Draw a map of your local area on a big piece of paper, marking landmarks and pretend to walk between them

51. Create Hama Bead decorations

52. Paper weaving

53. Handprint painting

Four colored painted hand-prints on a slatted wooden surface painted white. Two of the hand prints are signed.
Pixabay / tantetati

54. French knitting

55. Make salt dough ornaments

56. Make pinecone bird feeders

https://onelittleproject.com/pinecone-bird-feeders/

A white bowl containing birdseed and two pinecones on strings, one covered with seed and one not.
OneLittleProject.com

57. Make marbled paper

58. Face painting

Young boy in red t-shirt wearing orange and white tiger face paint including a black nose, stripes and whiskers.
Pixabay / white77

For Older Kids:

59. Rockpainting 

60. Making Robots from Lego

61. Writing a song or piece of music on a suggested theme

62. Board games – there are downloadable app versions of many of the popular games if you don’t have the physical game in your house.

63. Make sock puppets (or even more elaborate puppets if they want!)

https://www.loveyourclothes.org.uk/guides/sock-puppets-and-kids-activity-packs

1 male and three female puppets on strings on a blue fabric stage with a yellow background with blue theatre curtains at the sides.
Pixabay / narcis ciocan

64. Wordsearches and crosswords (downloaded from the Internet)

65. Decorate their room – take the opportunity to give their bedroom a makeover – get them to choose the colours and join in!

66. Paint a wooden wall plaque

https://www.craftideas.info/html/hen_chicks_decoration_b.html

Painted wooden wall hanging decoration showing a brown hen with a red head and three yellow chicks in a grassy field under a blue sky. There is a string bow in the top left of the hanging.
CraftIdeas.info

67. Make fancy paper aeroplanes

68. Cook a meal for the family from start to finish – from choosing the menu to the washing up!

Plan view of a table where a family are eating. There are lots of different dishes served on white plates on a wooden table.
Unsplash / Stefan Vladimirov

69. Put on a play for the rest of the family (including dressing up!)

70. Decorate glass jars with glass paints to make candle holders

71. Origami

Drawings of 14 differently colored origami birds and animals.
Pixabay / nic0leta

72. If you have any old furniture, they can paint it to give it a new lease of life

73. Make a cardboard box fort

74. Make a beaded heart dreamcatcher

https://www.craftideas.info/html/heart_dreamcatcher.html

Red heart-shaped dreamcatcher with strings and red beads within the red frame,hanging on a white wall.

75. Make button (or card) whizzers

76. Make Pet Cactus Rocks

https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/pet-cactus-rocks/

Two rocks painted green to look like cacti with stick-on eyes, sitting in earthenware pots

77. Make friendship bracelets

78. Organise a Video Games tournament (online or within the family)

79. Make galaxy shoes

https://kidscraftroom.com/diy-galaxy-shoes/

Pair of sneakers with galaxy space design painted on.

80. Set up a scavenger hunt

81. Build a catapult

82. Make homemade bath salts

Three jars containing pink and pale blue colored bath salts, each with a string bow. Either side are two white towels tied with string bows.
Pixabay / kingapl

83. Design a Lego marble run

84. Teach them to knit teddy bears

A heap of knitted teddy bears in lots of different colors.
Pixabay / stevepb

85. Try copying some famous paintings eg Van Gogh, Monet or Picasso!

86. Make fancy pencil holders from empty jars or plastic bottles

87. Clothespin crafts – accessory holders, wreaths, scarf holder, note holders

Card and fabric hearts hanging from clothespins and string on a washing line. Each heart has a daisy in the middle.
Pixabay / congerdesign

88. Pyrography

89. Ask your kids to invent a recipe from the food in your store cupboard

90. Make a secret agent maze using string taped to a hallway or door

91. Make Tie-dye T-shirts (or beach towels etc)

Lots of brightly colored tie-dye patterned t-shirts hanging on a rail.
Pixabay / Karol Olsen

92. Make para cord bracelets

93. Make a God’s Eye

94. Build a city from Lego

A lego city from street level including a lego figure riding a red scooter.
Pixabay / cattu

95. Make folded paper bracelets

96. Make a baking soda volcano (and explore the science!)

Child making a baking-soda volcano.
Pixabay / jcmanheimer

97. Learn to touch type

98. Learn about photography – use their phones to take pictures of the dog, the family, the house, the garden…

99. Create a stop-motion video using Lego figures and a phone.

Toy figure with a camera on a tripod
Pixabay / Erika Wittlieb

100. Make pencil toppers

101. Make necklace pendants from air-dry clay

102. String Art

103. Create a comic book

Montage of images in comic book style.
Pixabay / geralt

104. Make home-made candles

I hope this list of activities and crafts for kids is helpful – let me know if you try any, and what you think. Also, if you’ve got any questions, just ask away below!

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Painted paperzoo animal faces including a purple hippo, orange lion and green frog. Text overlay reads 101 amazing crafts for kids to do at home

2 thoughts on “101 Amazing Crafts for Kids to Do at Home

  1. Oh there are just so many adorable ideas here! Somehow, my twins have grown into high school seniors who are heading off to college soon (where does the time go???). But this is exactly the kind of post I would have adored back when they were younger, and I was always looking for creative, unique, fun and educational activities to share with them! I’m just delighted that you found some of our site’s recipes inspiring additions to the list! Cooking with my kids has always been one of my favorite and most successful family activities, when I just didn’t know what else to do to keep them engaged and busy! We’ve had so much fun posting our family-favorite recipes and kids’ cooking projects through the years, and I’m honored to be included in your wonderful list! 🙂

    1. I’m in a similar situation Shelley – our daughter is nearing the end of school, so we don’t cook together as much as we used to. On the plus side, she occasionally volunteers to cook family dinner. She’s doing meatloaf tonight. Yum! Thank you for letting me include your recipes – the rainbow breakfast is very topical with rainbows cheering everyone up at this difficult time – and I just loved your apple monsters – so much fun!

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