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  • Home
  • About me
  • Nest
    • Eating
    • Furniture refinishing
    • House before and after
    • Decorating hacks
    • Renovation hacks and tips
  • Create
    • Crafts
    • crochet
    • Cork board ideas
    • Chalk paint ideas
    • Decoupage
    • Journaling
    • Paper crafts
    • Picture framing
    • polymer clay
    • Sewing
    • upcycling
  • Seasons and Holidays
    • Valentine
    • Fall
    • Christmas
  • Kids
    • Kids indoor
    • Kids outdoor
    • Kids art display
    • Kids hacks
  • Grow
    • Container gardening
    • Edible garden
    • Flower arranging
    • garden art
    • Garden hacks
    • Birds in the garden
  • Waste free ideas
    • Body care
    • Cleaning
    • Eating
    • Gifting

Play is the highest form of research. Albert Einstein 

Kids indoor ideas

Most of the ideas on this page for preschoolers. Our kids are 2 1/2 years apart but often hey enjoy the same crafts and activities...
For small kids check here, for bigger kids and parents check out craft section and crafts by theme here.

Finger printing

Fun little activity, we used watercolors. There are many options, my girl's is caterpillars and butterflies stage. 

Mixing paint - no mess!

This is such a fun (and yes totally not green) activity for kids....We filled plastic zip log bag (used but with no holes!) with 2 colors of pain and hand soap. We taped it to a paper and then my girl played with it for hours. Even her older brother had fun with it when he came home from school. 

Matching game

I found these wooden pieces at a yard sale. Kids and I made matching game - which will be great to bring for a camping trip. We used mod podge to seal the stickers.
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Streamers

These simple streamers are easy to make and kids will figure out ways how to use them during their play. 
Supplies: chopsticks, curly ribbon, scissors
Time: 5 mins
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Bead trees

Fun afternoon making beads trees. We needed a few trees for our doll house, but we got a it carried away. 
Supplies: branches, beads, pliers, stands - cork, door nobs, piece of wood with holes, furniture legs ...
We made these simple trees with wooden beads. 
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Magical forest 
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Balsam reed trees
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Card board box sleepover

I honestly think cardboard boxes are the best toys ever! No you don't have to buy a new tub or appliance to acquire a box, feel free to chase down a appliance deliver truck. Usually they are thrilled to get rid of them (make sure you leave the styrofoam behind ;O).  
Here is one idea my kids loved. They filled the box with pillows and sheets and had actually slept in the box overnight.   

Using typewriter

Before my friend dropped off a typewriter at a thrift store we used it for about a week. 
I was pretty interesting to watch the kids playing with it.
​And no kids there is no delete button! ;O) 

Catapult

I am so happy that my kids are thinking like me...use what you have. To be honest with you often it is the other way around and they inspire me. 
My son made this simple catapult using paint sticks. 
We used it outside but only used natural materials to shoot, because most of them we never found. I prefer not polluting. 
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Green lanterns

We are little obsessed with candle lanterns in this house. We often have campfires and it looks very inviting when the path is lit with candles. Kids enjoyed making these green lanterns. We just mixed pod podge and food coloring. 
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Key chain

We have a box of small toys, and parts of small toys and games and sort of kids stuff junk drawer. It is great place to dig in when crafty mood kicks in. Here we made super easy key chain from a bouncy ball.   
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Snow globes

Linda saw this idea somewhere and we decided to make our own snow globes.
Supplies: small jars with lids, small animals, water, glycerin, glue, glitter. 
Time: 15 mins or less.  
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 Doll house trees

We needed a few trees for our doll house, so we upcycled this wreath. 
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Carbon paper 

Do you remember carbon paper? I found it recently in my stash and kids had so much fun with it. It is sort of like a magic. 
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Dress ups - googly eyes

Any form of dress up is a fantastic for the kids. Creating the costume and playing with them.  Here we upcycled broken ping pong ball into googly eyes. Cut the ball in half, make a hole in the middle (kids can use a drill) and use sharpie to draw pupil. Simon said he felt like a chameleon. 

Dress up dolls

Easy home made dress up dolls, we used old cardboard and magazines for clothing.   

Nail art

My girl worked on nail art, using nose pliers helps a lot especially if you are using small nails. 
For the look of the piece I prefer small heads on the nails, but bigger heads are easier to work with. 
Supplies: wooden board (painted if you wish), nails, hammer, nose pliers, yarn, scissors.    
Time: 30 mins 
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Here are different nails we used, the left picture shows roofing nails that were much easier to work with. 
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Animal key chains

Kids (we all) love making stuff we can use and show off, right?
This is one simple idea and easy project. All you need is small animals, eye hooks and key rings. We also used small drill.    

Making music instruments

There are many options how to make music instruments. Just give the kids some boxes and other containers, duct tape, strings elastic etc...  We made a string instrument and shakers (we filled bottles with rice and pasta). Maybe they can put a concert for you. 

Wooden pieces fun

Wooden pieces displayed in wooden box is fun for all ages. 
We love to build new sets, and play around with them. 
Supplies: wooden box (2" are the best), wooden pieces (we prefer not finished wood). 
I use wooden boxes from stamps and kids puzzles, small drawers etc... 
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Play food

Fun afternoon making doll play food.  We used play dough that will dry out eventually and will last for a long time. 
if you want to go green you can make salt dough. Unfortunately if you have pets at home, they may munch on it. 
Supplies: play dough, rolling pin, cookie cutters.  
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Collage - people

Fun afternoon making collage. We cut out magazine photos - especially people and mixed it up a bit.  
Supplies: construction paper, magazines, scissors, glue. 
Time: 15 mins to hours
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Balancing cairns

We can't resist collecting pretty rocks. From each trip to the beach we bring some. We wash them and eventually find many uses for them.
We had a few weeks of making balancing cairns over and over again.   
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Wooden key chains 

We turned wooden pieces into key chains. 
Kids wanted to make something for each of their friends for Valentine. This is easy project but requires adult supervision and little prep talk.
It is wise to draw a few designs on piece of paper before using the burner. Dots and straight lines are much easy then curved letters. 
Supplies: Wooden pieces, wood burner, eye hooks and key chain rings.    
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Cork people

Do you need an excuse to drink more wine? Ha ha. 
We never throw out cork and have decent stash handy. One afternoon we made these cute little guys.
Supplies: cork, pom poms, googly eyes, glue etc....
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​Clothespin toys

We had great time making these clothespin toys. 
Supplies: paper, glue clothespin, markers and little bit of imagination. 
Time: 15 mins to hours
Little gift
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Baby dinosaur being born
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Laughing fish ;O)
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Creeper
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Hand puppets 

These hand puppets are easy to make and fun to play with.
Supplies: paper (card stock), scissors, pencil, makers, colored pencils and a few volunteer fingers ;O).. 
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Piggy bank

All kids love saving their change, they love making their own piggy bank. We used:
- recycled plastic container 
- foam sticker
- googly eyes
- sharpie
- scissors
- utility knife (adults only) 
- glue
Unfortunately the legs did not last long as our money was too heavy. But it was still fun to make.  

Making funny faces with magnets

We recycled old tins (washed and I made sure the edges are not sharp) and any magnets we found. This fun lasted quite a few days...  

Bookmarks - yarn and a bead

Simple little project. You need a wooden bead,  yarn and scissors. Draw a face on the beads, let it dry. Make a knot on 3 same length pieces of yarn, put the bead on and then make a braid. Make a knot on the end. These make lovely gifts. 

Painting fabric

Kids love making clothing their own. My girl decided to make a little design on her T shirt. 
We used embroidery loop and fabric markers. If you try this make sure you put cardboard between the fabrics. 
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Light box

Very simple idea and really fun for kids. I was hoping they will trace some cool pictures, but they spent hours just playing with the box...
You just need see through box and small lights. 
If you want to trace pictures (yes I had to try it of course! It was much easier then holding picture on the window...) I recommend taping the paper down so it does not move on you. 

Bookmarks Bookmarks 

Stained glass windows

Paper garden

For this project we used cardboard boxes, paint swatches, scissors, punchers (flower shapes) and glue.  

Paper wreath

For this project we used cardboard boxes, paint swatches, scissors (I used utility knife), punchers (flower shapes) and glue and something to make round shape ( we used 2 different lids).  

Marble painting

All you need is a box, paper, paint and marbles...it is short activity but kids really enjoyed it. It will be great to use large box, large paper and use it as wrapping paper. 

Upcycled faces

All we needed for this project was leftovers from flooring project (bamboo), garage junk box (all the metal pieces that never found their way home ha ha), strings and glue gun (we used it in the garage with door open). I stay away from using glue gun if I can, but kids enjoy using it and it teaches them a bit about safety. Plus they can admire results of their work right away.    
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Stress balloons

Kids had fun filling balloons with flower. It was a challenge to put the flower in, but finding out how was big part of the project itself.
Drawing faces on the balloons make changing their shapes very interesting and funny.      

Tracing animals

Tracing animals is easy way to boost any artists confidence. All you need is a sunny day. And paper and pencil and an animal. 
​My son enjoyed this very much. 

Doll house made out of card board box

Simple diorama 

Cross stitch

My 8 year old started learning how to do a cross stitch. 

Rock painting

Making a heat pad

Kids will need some assistance with this. But even kids as young as 6 can do the basic stitch (my kids practiced on paper first).  

Moving pictures 

Kids had fun making these moving pictures...simple and fun. You need 2 pages...you draw similar images but you draw one thing differently...let the kids to have fun with it and choose one...
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Moving pictures

​Kids had fun making these moving pictures...

Night winter picture

This was fun crayon resist picture. We folded paper in half, drew the skyline with a crayon, then copied it on the bottom and then painted with water colors over. 

Grass heads

Basic embroidery 

Kids had fun learning very basic embroidery. They drew their designs with chalk first. I picked thick needles with blunt ends. 

Glass jars

Kids made these simple glass jars. We used them as lanterns during out campfire.  
Mod podge is fantastic as it dries clear. You can add any color - we used these window markers and the kids just spread the paint. 
You can small containers and mix pod podge with different colors then do a real design - let it dry between doing different colors. 

Bubble wands

Kids and I made these bubble wands, very easy and so much fun to use. 

Painting

Kids love painting, if you show them step by step they would love it. All you need is canvasses, paint (container for paint and water) and brushes. Easels are great, aprons are practical.  

Thank you for your visit, come back again. 

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