Summer crafts for kids that will cost you next to nothing

The coolest summer crafts for kids, that cost next to nothing or are completely free kids crafts. Take a quick look over these toddler crafts below and find one to get you started.

Some of these can be fun crafts for kids as well as being great toddler learning activities. You will find some of these crafts are free coloring print pages. Sometimes the simplest toddlers activities prove to be the most popular. So never mind computer games for toddlers get them doing some of these really fun activities for toddlers.

When your child gets involved with any toddler craft activities they should be supervised at all times. In many craft activities for kids there are many small parts. If your toddler is left unsupervised they may put these in thier mouths. Which could lead to swallowing and possibly choking. So better to be safe and only organize these toddler activities when you can watch over them.

So below you can make crafts easy for kids with these arts, crafts for kids ideas with pictures to help you follow my instructions

Summer coloring pages

To start with these are one of the most popular toddler activities going. little ones just simply love to color in pictures.

So giv'em what they want with these Summer coloring pages.

Summer collage

This is good toddler craft that involves little ones favorite thing...sticking stuff :-)

1. Save an old breakfast cereal packet and cut out one side to use as the base for your summer collage picture.

2. Next find a few old magazines and/or shopping catalogues and cut out any pictues that make you think of summer time. Such as paddling pools, swimming costumes, outdoor furniture, BBQ stuff...you get the idea.

3. Then you will need a big glue stick for your toddler to get really messy with (or if your lucky stick the right stuff to the base cardboard).

Shell picture make perfect summer crafts for kids

Either you or someone you know will probably be going down to the beech during the summer. So collect some shells on the beech, it's great activity in its self. You could collect anything small that looks interesting and isn't too heavy or large. such as small flat pebbles, very small bits if drift wood and maybe even a bit of dried seaweed.

Now you have all the raw materials you need to get going. Follow the next steps to create something that will look great on any wall.

1. Use either a thick piece of card as your base. You could even use a thin wooden board as there will be a bit of weight when your toddler finishes this project.

2. You will need to use a strong kids craft glue to make sure all the bits stay where they are put. These kids glues are safe for your little ones to use and will clean off most stuff (including kids) with a bit of soap and water.

3. The next bit is very important, so pay attention!!! let your toddler stick what they want, where they want (you thought I was being serious then didn't you :-) Just let your toddler express them selves with this toddler summer crafts for kids project. It's all about the doing process rather than the finished item.

So no matter what it looks like tell them it's beautiful (and it will be).

This helps to build their confidence and self esteem, a very good parenting skill that should be used often.

Sand and glue pictures

This is a summer crafts for kids they can do almost unaided. You will need a sheet of paper, some colored play sand, and some pva kids glue to get started.

You will need to put down some old newspaper or something else to protect the table from the glue and sand.

1. The first step is to let your toddler squirt some pva glue onto the paper. Encourage them so make some twisty lines of glue.

2. Now another fun job for your little one. Get them to grab a hand of play (we used red colored sand) from the tub you put it in (you did put it in a tub right). Then sprinkle it all over the paper covering the glue.

3. Then get them to lift the picture up and shake the sand off. What your left with is Just the sand sticking to the glue. The rest of the paper shows through inbetween creating a lovely pattern.

Make your own butterfly mobile

1. The first step is for your toddler to paint the toilet roll tube any bright color. Then leave it to dry while you get on with the other stuff you need to prepare.

2. Now you need to create your butterfly wings using tissue paper. you can use either the same color as the body or pick another color. Just cut out a square 12 inches by 12 inches Then fold it in half and pinch it together in the middle. I use food bag ties to hold it together.

3. Next job is to fix the wings in place with a big blob of glue. You need to put the glue roughly a third the way down your butterfly back. Then press your wings down into place and dress them into shape.

4. Finally you need to use your marker pen to draw a face onto your Butterfly (see picture to the left with stripes). Then either draw some eyes or as we have done stick on some wobbly eyes. Then make a small hole at the top of the tube to the back. Then thread a length of cotton thread through and tie. Now you are ready to hang your finished butterfly mobile. This a parfect summer craft for kids to try they can also adapt this into a bumble bee mobile as in the next photo.

Oviously your toddler will need some help and supervision with this craft project. Still let them do as much as possible, it really doesn't matter it the butterfly looks a bit skewiff. As I keep saying it's all about your toddlers experience doing and not so much about the finished article.

The important thing is to just have some fun with these summer crafts for kids. For your toddler it's not the end result that matters but the doing they get the most from. You will find lots of free stuff on summer crafts for kids as well as on many pages on this site for you and your toddler to enjoy on this site so have a good look around.