Your First Step in Cheap Crafts for Kids: Do-It-Yourself Craft Kit

Looking for cheap crafts for kids?

My children spend so much time coloring, cutting, gluing and creating that I had to find alternatives to expensive art supplies and ready-made kits. Over time we've put together quite a collection of cheap crafts for kids and families.

Since I was a little girl, doing arts and crafts has always been my absolute favorite past time. There was something very gratifying about the feeling of scissors cutting through construction paper. That early love of creating with my hands and imagination developed into my passion for jewelry art design and creation.

Aside from arts and crafts being a very frugal way to entertain your family on a rainy day, it can also be a very important artistic outlet and form of expression. You can never have too many ideas for cheap crafts for kids.

There is no limit to the types of things that can be crafted, and "artwork" is only limited by imagination.

Here is a list of some general crafting supplies that I believe every family with children should have on hand for anytime someone gets the creative bug.

• Construction Paper – It should be sturdy and usually comes in pads or packs with several vibrant colors. If you find this at a good price buy more than one pad as kids tend to use it up quickly.
• Scissors – If your children are young get safety scissors. They are made to only cut paper.
• Crayons, Markers, Colored Pencils – The craft box at our house has all of these but again, if your children are preschool aged then a big box of crayons is plenty. If you decide to put markers or paints in the box, give yourself some peace of mind and buy the washable kinds.
• Glue – Glue sticks are a great invention, but sometimes you do need some liquid glue. The best way to minimize mess with liquid glue is to pour some in a small shallow container, (we cut a paper cup down to 1 inch tall), then use cotton swabs, (Q-tips) to apply.
• Stickers – You can buy any variety of stickers available. Dollar stores usually have large varieties at good prices. Craft stores will sometimes sell big tubs of stickable foam shapes at sale prices. They’re worth it especially if you can find them on sale.
• Stencils - Stencils are shape patterns that can be traced onto almost anything. They usually come in a book on cardstock or for a little more money you can buy sets of plastic stencils. The easiest to find are stencils of the alphabet and numbers but shape stencils are fun to have as well.

• Glitter – Kids love to sparkle their projects up with glitter. The best way I’ve found to keep glitter messes under control is to buy glitter with a shaker style top. Put whatever project is going to be glittered on a paper plate. Make sure there is plenty of glitter covering all glue, then carefully shake the excess off onto the paper plate. Set the project aside to dry. Bend the plate and use it to funnel the extra glitter back into the container.

These are the very basics supplies you need to come up with tons of cheap crafts for kids. We keep all our supplies in a plastic organizer in a corner of the kitchen. (The kitchen table is the only place I allow glue, paints and markers). We call the organizer our “Craft Center”. We use Ziploc Baggies to help keep everything in it neat and in good condition.

We use this basic supply to come up with plenty of free family crafts. Just add some old shoe boxes, toilet paper or paper towel rolls, plastic cups or paper plates and watch what takes shape.

We rarely have a need to buy a ready made kit for our projects and honestly, I think my kids really enjoy using their imaginations to come up with their creations.

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