Marshmallow Art: For younger children, mini marshmallows can be glued onto paper to make 3 dimensional pictures. Using a flour and water paste will take the worry away of the younger ones 'eating their art'. Older kids can use toothpicks with the mini marshmallows to create sculptures.
Nature Art: The children can collect nature items from outside such as leaves, rocks, twigs, etc. and use them in many forms of art. Leaf prints can be made by taping leaves on a paper and painting over them and onto the paper. Once dry, remove the leaf.
Tuck leaves under a white piece of paper and use a crayon or pencil to make leaf rubbings.
Rocks and sticks can also be used to make nature prints.
Rocks can be turned into "pet rocks" with a little paint and some googlie eyes.
Older children can create stick creatures with various art supplies such as pipe cleaners and tissue paper and lots of imagination.
Paper Plate Clowns: Have the children make faces (not noses though) on paper plates with markers, crayons, pencil crayons or pastels.
Once complete, punch a small hole into the face where the nose would be. Blow a balloon up just slightly, tie it off and put the tied enf through the hole. Secure it to the plate with tape at the back. The balloon acts as the clowns nose.
Tiger Masks: Have the children glue yarn on a paper plate to create a lions head. Cut holes where the eye's would go and attach a popsicle stick on the bottom for children to hold onto.
Great for younger kids
Circus Puppets: Paper bags can be coloured and glued on to creat just about anything you'll find in a circus from the ring leader (with a black construction paper top hat) to an elephant (with a long grey construction paper nose) Kids love to make their own circus puppet shows.
Colourful Shells: Sea shells can usually be found in the craft section of most dollar stores. Children love to colour on them with crayons and brighten them up.
Mermaids and Mermen: Trace each childs body with pencil on a large piece of craft paper. Older children can transform their outlines themselves, while younger ones will need help. Create a mermaid tail in place of the childs legs and feet. The kids can paint their outlines and become merpeople.
Sea life Sun Catcher: Draw and cut out a fishbowl shape in black construction paper. Each child will need 2 fishbowls. Cut out the inside of the fishbowls about a inch from the outer edge so that you can see through your fish bowls. Have the children draw, colour and cut out a few small fish and anything else they want to include in their bowl (plants etc) (They must be small enough to fit into the inside of the fishbowl) glue a piece of plastic kitchen wrap (like saran wrap) to the outer edge of 1 of the bowls. Glue the fish onto the plastic wrap and then glue the other bowl on top of it. Cut off the excess plastic wrap from the edges. Once dry, you can hang it in the window and watch your fish swim.
This activity requires a lot of adult assistance.
Tea Towels: Use some solid coloured tea towels bought at the dollar store or even scraps of material you may have at home. They children can create a decorative tea towel with fabric paint. (Make great gifts)
Place Mats: Have children draw or paint pictures on newsprint. Once dry, cover both sides with clear contact paper and the children can all have their own place mats for snack and lunch.
Veggie Prints: Cut various fruits and vegetables into medium sized pieces. The children can dip the veggies and fruit into paint and print on their papers with them. (Potatoes and apples are great for this as you can cut shapes into the food for printing with.)
Shiney Planets: Add 1/4 c of corn syrup or maple syrup to every 1 c of liquid tempra paint. Cut various size circles out of stiff paper ( card stock or bristol board, little paper tends to curl when dry) Have the children paint their planets. Once dry the planets will shine.
Puffy planets: Mix shaving cream in with liquid tempra paint. Paint the circles as described above. The planets when dry will have a textured feel to them.
Paper Plate Aliens: Have the children cut and paste construction paper onto paper plates in any fashion they please to create some outrageous aliens. Continue with a discussion on where the alien is from, what it eats, how it talks, etc. This really gets the imagination going!
Apple Head Dolls:(For older kids only) Peel one apple for each child. Have the child cut areas into the apple to define the facial features (ie indents for the eyes, indents at the side to create a nose) and a slit for the mouth. Once the cuts are complete, soak the apple for 5 minutes in a mixture of 1 cup lemon juice and 2 tbsp of salt.
Allow apple to dry in a warm dry place. A humid environment will lead the apple to mold. You can also place it in the oven, at about 120 degrees for short intervals (so that it doesn't cook) Once the apple is dry, (it could take a couple of weeks, it will feel dry and spongy) we used doll clothes stuffed with cotton batten for the bodies. We attached the head with a short piece of dowling.
Leaf Rubbings: Have the children collect various leaves from outside. Place them under plain white paper and have the children use crayons to rub over the paper. The leaf print will appear.