‘Fall’ for easy arts and crafts for kids!

Autumn is known for its fluctuating weather. One minute the sun can be shining, and the next, the cold is biting, and any outdoor after school activities in the pipeline are soon out of the window - or in this case, inside the window!

So, when the weather turns, make sure you're ready to keep the kids entertained indoors with some easy arts and crafts projects that will stop boredom in its tracks!

The arts and crafts experts at Edukit are here to give you some cost-effective craft inspiration, with five easy activities you can take on together in the comfort of your own home.

Pipe cleaner animals

Pipe cleaners are undoubtedly one of the most versatile arts and crafts products around - bend them to shape and the crafting possibilities are endless!

For a child friendly pipe cleaner craft, why not try helping your little ones to make their own pocket pipe cleaner animals? 

Firstly, they’ll need to choose which animal they’d like to create - they could try making their own pet cat or dog, or maybe even try their hand at a farmyard animal!

Once your kids have decided on their chosen creature, they’ll need to select the perfect pipe cleaner colours and pick out a pom pom for the body of their animal.

If they’ve decided on a dog for example, use three of the chosen coloured pipe cleaners and wrap these around a large pom pom to form the body.

Coil one pipe cleaner around itself for the head, and cut another to a smaller size to create the nose of your pup. With the remainders of the other pipe cleaner, cut two small sections and fold both of them in half to make the ears, and use another section to craft a tail.

To make the legs, cut four pieces of pipe cleaner to an equal length, adding a slight coil to one end of each of them to look like paws.

These will then need to be glued to the pom pom body of your dog design, along with the head and tail, and a tiny black pom pom for a nose.

Add some googly eyes to bring your design to life, and there you have it, their very own pocket pipe cleaner pal!

Apple lollipop stick craft

An apple craft a day keeps the boredom at bay!

Start this craft by lining four lollipop sticks next to each other (we’d recommend going for a neutral colour, as this will be the core of your apple!) With another lollipop stick, glue this diagonally across the other four to hold them in place - this will be the back of your design.

Next you will need to cut out the apple shape using their felt colour of choice. To go for a traditional look, red and green apples might be their go-to shade, but there’s nothing stopping them from trying any colour of their choice!

Stencil out the top and bottom of your ‘leftover’ apple - think of a broken eggshell shape - and then cut these out, ready to be stuck on the top and bottom of your lollipop sticks. The felt will need to be about 3cm longer than the width of the lollipop sticks.

Stick your felt pieces to the top and bottom of your lollipop sticks, and you should have what resembles an eaten apple! Colour in a stem and leaf shape to stick to the top of the apple, and then use a black marker to colour in the apple seeds on the centre of the lollipop sticks.

We know your kids will want to get their teeth into this one!

Handprint paper flowers

For an easy project that the little ones can complete on their own are handprint paper flowers. Not only are these so easy to make, but they’d also be a lovely gift for grandparents or friends who want a special keepsake.

To start you’ll need a piece of coloured craft paper, one green and one yellow pipe cleaners, a pencil, some sticky tape and some scissors.

You’ll need to get your child to trace around their own hand on a piece of coloured paper as best they can. From here, the outline will then need to be cut out of the paper, erasing the stencil if necessary.

Once this has been done, the bottom of the hand print will need to be curled into a cone shape, leaving a slight gap for the pipe cleaner to be pushed into. Use the sticky tape to hold the paper in place, being sure to not cover the gap at the bottom.

Using a round pencil or pen, wrap the petals (or fingers to be more precise!) around the pencil to curl them outwards.

Once you’ve done this to all the petals, you’ll need to get your green and yellow pipe cleaners. They will both need to be cut to around 15cm in length, and the yellow one will need to be folded in half.

The green pipe cleaner will then need to be bended into a hook shape at one end, and placed onto the bend of the yellow pipe cleaner, and pinched to secure them in place.

One side of the yellow pipe cleaner will need to be bent in half again, and then the longer side will need to be wrapped tightly around this to look like the top of the flower’s stem.

Finally, with the petals at the top, push the paper flower you’ve made through the pipe cleaner, with the yellow pipe cleaner at the top. Repeat as many times as you want to create a beautiful flower bouquet, and finish by tying a ribbon around them - what a lovely bunch!

Jumping frog origami

For another animal related craft for kids, we know they’ll love this jumping frog origami project!

Hop onto this trend by getting a green piece of paper (or any colour they want their frog to be!), and cut it into a square - this can be done by cutting an A4 piece of paper in half, and gently folding one diagonally in half and slicing off the excess, or just measuring 12cm x 12cm.

Once you have your square, fold in half one way, open the piece of paper up again and fold the other way, and once again open the paper back up (this will create a cross shape across your square).

Once you have your guide, you will need to then fold each corner into the centre to create a smaller square (which looks similar to an envelope shape).

Place your shape on a flat surface diagonally, to look like a diamond shape, and to the top right hand side of the diamond, fold this into the centre to make it look like an upside down kite shape, and repeat on the opposite side.

Fold the bottom half of your kite (which will be the smaller triangle shape) upwards, towards the centre.

You should then have another triangle, which you will need to take the bottom, right hand corner and fold to the left to touch the middle, bottom length of the triangle shape, and do the same on the left hand side so the corners are touching.

You should then have a ‘house-like’ shape - a square with a triangle on top. Fold the square in half, so the triangle is still seen, and then fold this in half again, back on itself.

Finally, on the point of the triangle, fold this downwards to about 1cm, and flip the origami frog over.

Decorate your frog with some googly eyes, spots, stars, gems or anything else that takes their fancy, and watch them hop by using two fingers to push down on the folds in the paper (think tiddlywinks!)

Origami can be difficult, so check out Red Ted Art’s easy, step by step video on how to make this craft on her YouTube video here.

Caterpillar clothes pegs

For a craft that’s useful even after it’s been made, why not have a go making some creepy crawly caterpillar clothes pegs?!

Grab yourself some old wooden or plastic clothes pegs and a bag of colourful pom poms, and you’re already halfway there!

Let your little ones pick out their favourite coloured pom poms, and use PVA glue to stick these in a line along a clothes peg. Add two googly eyes to one pom pom at the top of the clothes peg to give their caterpillar a personality!

Add multiple clothes pegs along a piece of string to hang in your little ones bedroom so they can clip their own drawings, posters and pictures to it - they’ll be ‘bugging’ you to make more!

We’d love to hear if you’ve tried out any of these fun and easy arts and crafts projects over the autumn, so send us your images of your completed design and we could even show it on our social media pages!

To make sure you have all the products you’ll need to complete your crafts, be sure to check out our range of crafts supplies and kits!

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