Craft projects for kids gives parents an opportunity to engage is good family time with their children. Crafts can stimulate imagination, relieve stress, develop motor skills and improve self esteem in children.

As a parent you probably understand the importance of engaging in family activities with your children, but may be having trouble finding ideas on how to do that. Let's take a look at a few craft projects for kids that you might like to try...

Create a decorative bulletin board. Help your child cover a small piece of fiber board with batting and fabric. Then attach ribbon in a crisscross pattern and use decorative tacks at the ribbon intersections. Attach a wire to the back and hang in your child's room. Tuck pictures and notes under the ribbon.

Decoupage a paper Mache box. Using scraps of papers and fabric, you and your child can decorate an old shoe box or a paper Mache box. Apply a thin coat of Midge Podge or acrylic gloss gel medium to the box. Place the paper or fabric on the box and cover with another coat of the gel medium. Continue with this process until the entire box is covered. You can then help you child use beads, shells, or ribbons to decorate the box further, if desired.

Make sand candles. (Not recommended for very young children.) . Fill a bucket with damp sand and pack down. Have your child use an old spoon to scoop sand out to create a cavity in the sand. This will act as the candle mold. Fill the cavity with melted candle wax and insert a wick. Allow several hours to cure, and then remove from bucket. Use this opportunity to teach your child important safety habits to follow when using the stove, handling hot materials or burning candles. Burning candles should never be left unattended.

Make a bird feeder using a cup and saucer. Let your child use ceramic paints (these usually require baking at a certain temperature to cure) to decorate a cup and saucer. Use an outdoor epoxy to attach the cup to the saucer and the saucer to the top of a 1 - 2" wooden dowel. Once cured, bury the bottom third of the dowel in your garden. You child can place bird seed in the saucer and water in the cup. Use the experience to teach your child about different types of birds that come to feeders.

Decorate a tote bag. Purchase an inexpensive canvas tote bag or make one yourself. Have your kids use fabric paints to write their names on it. Let them cut out pictures on printed fabric and iron them on the bag using fusible interfacing. Your kids can then go around the edges with fabric paint. They can also use fabric paint to attach plastic gemstones and other embellishments to the bag. Thin the fabric paint slightly and pour some on a paper plate and your children can make hand prints on their bags.

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