DIY Craft Recipes for Kids
What to Do When You Can’t Go to the Store

Making craft recipes for kids are great rainy day activities. Your child will also have fun helping you to make play dough or paint.

Click the pictures to find the recipes.

The items are also easy and inexpensive. You probably already have the ingredients. There is no need to go to the store.

Play Dough

Play dough is a lot of fun for kids. Making things with dough also helps develop hand strength. Having strong hands is useful in handwriting.

Provide your child with a dowel for rolling the dough and some cookie cutters in interesting shapes.

• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1 lbs box of baking soda (2 cups is in a pound box)
• 1 1/2 cup water
• Food coloring

In a large saucepan, mix cornstarch and baking soda together. Gradually add water. Add food coloring. Place the pan over low heat. Cook and stir. It will bubble and begin to thicken. Stir until it forms a ball. Remove from heat and place dough on a piece of plastic wrap. Tightly wrap and refrigerate or freeze the unused dough.

Cut the recipe in half if you want a smaller amount.

Roll the dough out and cut with cookie cutters. Or mold into shapes to make animals or people.

If you roll the dough to 1/4-inch thick, you can make ornaments. To dry, your ornaments leave out overnight to dry. Or you can bake in your oven at 250F for 20 to 30 minutes. Make a small hole near the top of your ornament before you cook it. When it is cool, attach a piece of ribbon and hang it on your Christmas tree.

Edible Play Dough

If you want to make a dough that also tastes good, you can make this recipe. Do not use this play dough if your child has a nut allergy, it contains peanuts!

1 cup powdered milk
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon honey

Mix all ingredients together. Then eat. I mean roll and cut out with cookie cutters. You can also add raisins, candies, pretzels, sprinkles, etc.

Craft Recipes for kids - Paint

Finger Paint

Use the paint with your fingers or a paintbrush. I found that if you put too much paint on the paper that when it dried it would flake off.

• 1 Tablespoon Baking Soda
• 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
• 1 Tablespoon Vinegar
• Food coloring

Mix the ingredient together. It will fizz some because of the baking soda and vinegar. So use a large enough container to hold the mixture. A good idea is to use empty individual fruit bowls. The vinegar and soda fizzed up but did not run over. Put in your food coloring after the fizz dies down a little.

Edible Finger Paint

Even the youngest member of your family can enjoy painting with this edible finger paint. This is a great recipe for children who still put their fingers in their mouth. You can’t save the pictures, but your child will enjoy creating.

To make the paint, all you need to do is add food coloring to instant pudding. If you want brown, use butterscotch or chocolate pudding.

Homemade Watercolors

You can make water colors with food coloring and water. Place a couple of drops of food coloring in a bottle cap. Then added several more drops of water. Use cotton swabs for paint brushes.

If you leave the colors in the bottle caps after several days, the water evaporated and left the color. You can use the colors again, just add water.

Besides play dough and paint, you can make other craft recipes for kids.

Paper Mache

You can make paper Mache by watering down white glue. If you don’t have white glue, you can make a paste out of water and flour. The water and flour solution can mold. Some people use salt to help control the mold.

Paste

You can also make glue to paste paper together with flour and water. To make glue, you want a thick paste. Don’t make it thin like paper Mache.

Dyed Pasta

Did you know that you can dye pasta? If you are worried about using rubbing alcohol with young children, you can use vinegar.

• 1/4 cup pasta
• 1/4 teaspoon rubbing alcohol or white vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon liquid food coloring

Place the pasta in a Ziploc bag. Mix the rubbing alcohol and food coloring together. Add to the bag and mix. Make sure that all the pasta is colored.

Dump on a baking sheet to dry.

For more craft recipes for kids, go to my Pinterest board. On the board you will find more recipes for play dough. There are also recipes for paint, and chalk. 

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