Summer Arts and Crafts - Creative Crafts For Your Kids

The kids are out of school, the heat is on, soon the novelty of no more school wears off and the kids are bored. They can't stay in the community pool eight hours a day, so what else can they do?

Summer Arts and Crafts - Makeover the Mailbox

The most important item for this craft is the craft foam because craft foam is water resistant. This means you'll certainly have to bring it in before it downpours, but a sprinkle or two won't hurt it.

You'll need scissors, scrap paper, tape, colored tape, ribbon, rope, double sided tape, craft foam and of course, the mailbox!

Use the scrap paper as a sort of template for the craft foam. The ideas that work best for mailboxes are animals and sea creatures. Draw the eyes, fins, ears, nose, any of the "pieces" that will be stuck on the mailbox on the scrap paper (brown paper bags work well for this) then trace them onto the craft foam and cut them out. If making a dog, create a tongue for the inside part of the mailbox for a little extra treat for the mailman when he makes his deliveries! For the mane of a horse, gather polyester rope and hang off the back!

Summer Arts and Crafts - Kitchen Wind Chime

This craft is not only musical but attractive as well. Use a smaller colander to feed fishing wire through and hang various metal items found around the kitchen. What can you use?

-spoons
-spatula
-whisk
-apple slicer
-anything you can find that isn't dangerous (like a knife)

Add some crystal beads or beautiful clear plastic beads to the monofilament and you have a fun, interesting craft the kids can enjoy making themselves!

The most important thing to keep in mind when coming up with these crafts is the age of children (their motor skills), their likes and dislikes, the level of "messiness" the craft will create (should it be done outdoors or in), and if the craft will actually be useful around the house (both items above can be used and enjoyed).

Summer Arts and Crafts - Gemstone Rocks

All kids love rocks. Especially the ones they find in the creeks and lakes, the large flat ones that are shaped like diamonds, triangles, hearts or ovals. What you'll need for this craft are the rocks, aluminum foil, newspaper, crayons (the old, broken variety), and an oven mitt.

Once the rocks have been chosen, they need to be baked on a cookie sheet (lined with foil) in a 225 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Remove the rocks from the oven with the oven mitt (they will be extremely hot!) and put them on the papers. Unwrap the old crayons then draw on the rocks. The crayons will melt like liquid magic. Move the crayon around for a swirl effect and you've got your gemstone rocks!

Summer arts and crafts are an enjoyable and constructive way to spend a day with the children while creating beautiful projects they can be proud of all year long.

Paper Flowers For the Summer

Paper flowers for the summer is a wonderful craft project even one the kids will enjoy doing. There are many summer flowers to choose from some of the most popular are the rose, peonies, sweet peas, rose buds, daisies, and sunflowers these are just a few. Of course, when you make paper flowers you can make any flower you want too and make it in almost any color.

You can make paper flowers for summer to decorate the inside of the house, the outside, as a gift or a party centerpiece. Red, white and blue roses with a little babies breath make a really nice 4th of July centerpiece. Actually, any type of flower using red, white and blue crepe paper will make a great centerpiece.

Do you need a centerpiece for a summer party? How about an assortment of colorful peonies you can use a clay pot as a holder and if you like decorate the outside of the pot with more colorful peonies. You can of course also make your flowers all one color if you would like and make a few extra for a hanging basket which you can hang on your front porch try to place it near the house so it has shelter from any unexpected rain. You can also make a hanging basket of summer flowers for any room or every room inside your home.

With paper flowers, you can make any type of floral arrangement you want. If you would like to use some of these flowers to decorate the outdoors then you can set up a garden area. Maybe put a bench, a small water fountain or even a birdbath in the area. A bird feeder or two is a nice idea as well. To create your summer paper flower garden make all the flowers and place them in windowsill boxes you can use Styrofoam to keep them in place you will want enough flowers in the box so the Styrofoam does not show. Place the flower-filled boxes wherever you would like them. Depending on the size of the area you would like to turn into a "paper flower" garden of course, depends on how many flowers you will need to make.

A circular shaped garden is always pretty; you can create one by placing bench, fountain, birdbath or other decoration in the center and surround the area with the flower boxes.

A flower garden with all the flowers in the center is also attractive simply place all your flower boxes or pots if you choose in the center and place the bench, fountain and other decorations around the flower garden.

It is not hard at all to create a paper flower garden just set it up the way you like! Making some of these flowers for summer can also serve as nice gifts for birthdays, welcome to the neighborhood and of course, do not forget to offer your talents if you know a bride to be who will be getting married in the summer!