DIY crafts from improvised materials at home. How to keep children busy at home: making games from scrap materials Preschool crafts

The youngest visitors to the site or their parents will certainly be interested in the numerous children's products that are presented on the site. The manufacturing process of some of them is described in this article. Agree that there is nothing more expensive than making a craft with your child that is original and funny.

Make it fun hedgehog made from seeds and plasticine maybe even a preschooler. You will need a small piece of brown plasticine and a handful of unhulled seeds. Roll (or entrust this to your child) a sausage from plasticine, stretch one side of it and sharpen it - this will be the face of the future craft. Place a black ball made of the same material on the hedgehog’s nose, and make the eyes from dark pieces of plasticine. Now you should fasten the seeds - needles - one thing at a time on the back of the hedgehog. This craft will surely delight your baby.

Since you have plasticine in dark shades for the last craft, then, for sure, there is a more cheerful palette of colors. Original postcard Made with your own hands, it will be an excellent gift for any holiday. For example, a baby can give such a craft to his beloved mother. First you need to put a drawing on a sheet of paper, which will be laid out from plasticine. Then you need to sculpt parts of the composition from plasticine, observing the required dimensions previously applied to the paper. Now you should color the title page of the card with pencils or felt-tip pens and write a congratulation. The plasticine elements of the design are glued into place, and the excess parts are cut off with a knife. (Naturally, all dangerous work with sharp tools is performed by adults). I am sure that any mother will be happy with such a gift.

Make it funny snowman using cotton wool and fabric ribbon it is possible even in a short time when you and your child are not busy. Take a blank sheet of paper and draw a snowman on it. You can completely entrust this to your baby or help her do it. Now you need to apply PVA glue to the snowman figure, to which you need to glue pieces of cotton wool. Make the eyes and nose of the craft from buttons, and draw the mouth with a felt-tip pen. The final touch to the work will be a glued bow made of fabric ribbon, which will give a festive look to this original handmade craft.

A few colored feathers, a plastic cup, eyes from an old toy, a piece of cardboard - do you think this is trash? No. This is another basic craft for kids that you can easily make with your own hands. Using glue, attach the eyes, nose and feathers to the cup. That's all. The funny man (or someone else) is ready. In the same way, you can gather several friends for him - after all, the material for such a craft is not so difficult to find.

The above crafts were not particularly difficult to make, since every child should be able to make them independently (or with minimal help from adults). The development of creative abilities in children is a very important process that will certainly affect their future. Every child must have a rich imagination in order to assemble an original and unique toy even from ordinary materials.

Undoubtedly, the development of their child is important for every sensible parent, but not every one of them knows how to properly, and most importantly, usefully occupy their child. Educational and didactic games do not have to be bought in a store; they are easy to make with your own hands. For example, crafts with children 3-4 years old contribute to faster development of thinking.

"Magic bag"

A very simple game that a mother and child can have fun with. For this you will need: any bag or Christmas boot. To give them mystery, you can decorate them with beads, rhinestones, ribbons, and felt. When the bag is ready, you should fill it with toys in the form of animals, fruits, vegetables or geometric shapes. By the way, crafts with children 3-4 years old affect their development, so many children at that age should know what a circle and triangle look like, and also be able to name them.

The rules of the game are simple: the child randomly takes out any object from the “magic” bag - if it is an animal, then ask leading questions. You just need to show your imagination. For example, where a certain species lives and what it eats. If the baby takes out a figure, then try to find out its color and what shape it has. Games like these are great for developing speech.

Simple crafts for children 3-4 years old made of cardboard

So, to make crafts from cardboard, you will need:

• colored cardboard;
• pencil;
• scissors;
• scotch.

Take the cardboard and trace the baby’s palm on its surface so that you get a mitten and a glove. Then do the same with the adult’s hand. You will need several similar blanks of different colors, after which they will need to be cut out.

Now you can start the game itself. First, ask your child, for example: “Where is the big red mitten?” Then these gloves and mittens can be attached to visible places at home using tape and asked the child to find, for example, a blue glove. Such crafts with children 3-4 years old will teach them to distinguish objects by shape, color and size, as well as to navigate in space.

Take a cardboard and trace the baby’s palm on its surface so that you get a mitten and a glove. Then do the same with the adult’s hand. You will need several similar blanks in different colors. After which they will need to be cut out.

Now you can start the game itself. First, ask your child, for example: “Where is the big red mitten?” Then these gloves and mittens can be attached with tape to visible places at home, and ask the child to find, for example, a blue glove. Such crafts with children 3-4 years old will teach them to distinguish objects by shape, color and size, as well as to navigate in space.

New Year's crafts with children

“Winter has come to visit us...” The long-awaited holidays are approaching, and in order to maintain this atmosphere, it is recommended to start making exciting crafts with your kids, who will be in the mood for a charming Santa Claus.

Craft "Santa Claus"

So, to start making New Year’s crafts with children 3-4 years old, you will need: an A4 sheet of blue, red and white colors, a felt-tip pen, eyes, scissors and a glue stick. Manufacturing process:

1. Let's prepare the base. We twist a cone from a blue sheet, coat the edges of the sheet with glue and glue it together. We cut off the edge of the cone a little so that its bottom is even.
2. We cut a piece about 8 cm wide from a white sheet, and then cut out a “rectangular” cloud from it - this will be the beard of Santa Claus.
3. On the finished beard, we retreat 2-3 cm and make a notch to place it on our base.
4. We cut out a mustache, a round red nose (1.5 cm in diameter), and glue them together.
5. We take our base with a beard, retreat approximately 9-11 cm from the top of the cone and glue the eyes, nose and mustache to the beard.
6. Draw a mouth with a felt-tip pen.
7. To decorate the top of the cone, we will make a “flashlight” - for this we take a piece of paper about 2 cm long and 3 cm wide. We make notches along the width of half the piece, twist the rope and glue it to the top of the base.
8. We make cuts on the beard and mustache. Our Santa Claus is ready.

Salt dough modeling

Modeling for children 3-4 years old promotes the development of fine motor skills, although this is not its only advantage. The baby can sculpt and develop, and mothers can create together and experience great pleasure from the work done and joint masterpieces. Regular salt dough is a flexible, pliable material consisting of salt, flour, water and, in some cases, glue or vegetable oil. With this combination of ingredients, the dough can take any shape, and if you have food coloring or acrylic paints, then any color. Salt dough also has the advantage of being a safe and environmentally friendly material for the child.

So, prepare an oilcloth so as not to stain the surface of the table, a knife (you can use one from a set of plasticine), as well as various molds, beads, figures, buttons to get various prints. It’s very easy to fashion a bun or an animal, after which the finished crafts can be placed in the oven (set at 75 degrees for 1.5-2 hours). After this, you can paint your child’s art treasure.

“Mouse” made from salt dough:

1. First, pinch off two pieces of dough and roll into balls for the head and body.
2. Let's connect them together.
3. Now we roll four smaller balls - these will be the paws.
4. We make the eyes, nose, ears and tail.

We connect all the parts together using water - this way the parts are better connected and do not fall apart after drying. Dry the finished mouse at a temperature of 75 degrees for about 1.5-2 hours.

Volume craft made from pine cones

Among voluminous crafts for children 3-4 years old, young mothers usually highlight crafts made from pine cones, which are well suited for decorating the house for the upcoming New Year and Christmas. They can be hung on the New Year tree instead of toys, so many parents pay attention to making a Christmas tree from cones.

For this you will need: cones, plasticine, a cardboard or foam base, a brush and green paints, foil. Manufacturing process:

1. We take the base on which our Christmas tree will be located and cover it with foil.
2. Then, on our basis, using plasticine and pine cones, we form a Christmas tree.
3. We paint the finished Christmas tree green.
4. Let the paint dry, after which the forest beauty can be considered ready.

Modeling from children's plasticine

The nerve endings of the fingertips work closely with the human speech apparatus, so children are recommended to play with small objects, create various crafts, draw and sculpt in order to develop their fingers.

When a child is engaged in modeling, you can notice that he becomes more diligent and attentive. Classes help develop the baby's memory, distinguish colors and shapes, and also promotes the development of imagination. For the next craft, you will only need plasticine, and in 5 steps you will be able to sculpt a wonderful caterpillar.

"Merry Caterpillar"

Manufacturing process:

1. Knead children's plasticine of the desired color. We will use 10 different colors.
2. Pinch off the required amount of plasticine.
3. Roll balls using two palms or using a palm and a table surface.
4. We fasten the balls together.
5. From black plasticine we sculpt the eyes and nose, and also attach the mouth and horns. Ready!

Modeling for children 3-4 years old from plasticine is a very interesting activity. Unfortunately, not all parents have enough free time to spend time with their children. It is clear that parents have enough other things to do that require time and effort, but setting aside half an hour for your child should definitely work.

Joint activities are a huge contribution to the development of the baby. It doesn’t matter so much whether it’s drawing simple pictures or sculpting simple figures. It should be remembered that crafts with children 3-4 years old lay the foundation for the formation of the child’s personality.

We have a great idea - a “magic bag” with all sorts of things, containing handmade games for children that will keep your fidget busy for a long time. So roll up your sleeves and get ready to have a great weekend with the kids and our DIY toddler play ideas.

We offer you a bunch of ideas on what you can do to keep your child busy at home when he is bored and tired of all the toys a long time ago. At the same time, you won’t have to spend much on new games; what you have around will be enough to make your own new fun for children.

10 DIY games for kids to keep your child occupied at home

A selection of great games that you can make for your child with your own hands to keep him occupied at home.

Drawing illusion

Children love to draw, but frankly speaking, it is always stressful for mom. If you don’t know what to do with your child at home, give him colored and thick sheets, brushes and a small container of water instead of white paper and paints.

He will dip a brush into water and paint on colored paper. The paper will darken where water gets in, and your child will think he is drawing. There will be no disaster in the apartment.

DIY construction kit for a child

What to do with a child at home if he is between one and three years old? Children at this age simply adore toys with many details.

For example, Mr. Potato. cut out a potato from felt, also cut out eyes, nose, hats, mustaches, and other attributes from felt of other colors for it. You can carry him with you in your bag or leave him at home, but in any case, Mr. Potato will bring a lot of joy. It's hard to think of a better game for kids.

The second option is possible.

Spy bottle - a DIY game for children

All that is required is to dig deep in your drawer in search of all sorts of unnecessary little things: buttons, small toys, thimbles, keys. Take a photo of them, laying them out on the table, then put them in a bottle and cover them with rice or other cereals.

When you need free time, give your child a photo and ask him to find all the elements from the picture. You can create such games for kids with your own hands again and again.

Games for children made from popsicle sticks

A great way to keep kids busy at home.

Print out drawings of various geometric shapes (triangle, square, rhombus) and let your child, using the drawing, try to put together the same stick figure. Unlike counting sticks, which will also work, popsicle sticks are not as easy to lose.

You can also make a puzzle out of popsicle sticks. For this, a few more popsicle sticks (or use the ones for the figures, but on the reverse side). Cut any photo into strips and glue to sticks. Your child will be able to put the puzzle together to make a picture. The advantage of this game for kids is that you don’t mind losing or ruining it, and it’s also easy to make a new one.

DIY lacing games

A great idea to keep your child occupied at home is to give him an object with holes into which he can insert the lace. Cut out figures from foam rubber, cardboard or paper plate and make holes along the edges. Give the child some kind of strong rope that can be threaded through these same holes.

With the same success, you can use cocktail tubes or fluffy wire instead of a cord and a colander (skimmer) instead of cardboard to keep your child occupied at home for a while.

DIY games with plastic utensils

Surely, every mother has plastic spoons and cups from some feast lying around somewhere at home. You can also use them to make educational games for kids with your own hands.

Take several transparent, white and colored plastic spoons. After this, use a marker to draw identical patterns on one colored and one transparent. On the remaining spoons also draw different figures according to this principle.

The point of this game for kids is that your child can find two spoons with the same icon and put them on top of each other. This will not only save you if you don’t know what to do with your child at home, but will also teach your child to distinguish between figures.

You can do the same with plastic cups. Such games can keep your baby busy at home for a long time.

Stringing pasta

We have all seen what children do somewhere in class, so why not play with dry pasta at home.

Give your child some pasta with a hole in it and a string, after tying a large knot at one end to keep the pasta from falling off. Children can make beads or just a long, long bunch of pasta in different shapes and colors.

You can also suggest stringing pasta onto wire or sticks stuck into a plasticine or foam base. You can also replace pasta with other materials: colored beads or cardboard.

Sorting squares of colored cardboard

Another activity that not only entertains, but also develops. For this DIY game for children, buy colored cardboard, cut it into small squares of different colors and attach it to a clothespin. Lay out a palette of colors in front of your child and let him try to attach a square of cardboard of the desired color with a clothespin. This is both a fun and educational game for kids.

We model figures with our own hands

To keep your child busy at home profitably and inexpensively, give him plasticine and toothpicks (there is an edible version of the game with marshmallows and straws) and offer to create three-dimensional shapes using plasticine to connect the sticks.

DIY games made from cardboard boxes

To keep your child occupied at home, make something for him from under his shoes. The box itself can be turned into a foosball table with the help of a couple of cocktail straws. And the lid - into a ball maze: just glue ice cream sticks or cocktail straws to the box.

Games with sunlight

Place it, place a sheet of paper next to it and ask the children to trace the shadow along the contour.

Crafts made from colored paper

Crafts made from colored paper are an easy way to keep your child busy for quite a long time. You don’t have to do anything specific; you can simply give a set of cut out figures (stripes, circles, squares, rectangles, triangles) and invite the child to dream up.

Water games

A quick way to keep your child occupied at home without much effort on the part of adults: pour water into a basin, pour in small objects (caps from plastic bottles, balls) and give the baby the task of getting them out using chopsticks, a spoon, or a ladle.

Obstacle course at home

Take colored tape, electrical tape or masking tape and stick it on the floor in the form of paths and islands. Then, to keep the children occupied, have them complete an obstacle or race with toy cars, or roll a short ball along the track, blowing on it through a cocktail straw.

Funny drawings and collages from scrap materials

A simple recipe for keeping your child occupied at home with drawing. Just give him unwanted magazines, advertising brochures or old postcards, scissors, glue, paper and pencils. Next, the child cuts out characters that interest him, pastes them onto a blank sheet of paper, and completes the drawings as he sees fit.

Such games not only help keep the child occupied so that he doesn’t get bored at home, but also develop imagination and train fine motor skills.

Now you know what to do with your child at home, and what toys you can quickly and easily make with your own hands.

Any interesting and beautiful paper crafts are a cheap and very easy way to keep children occupied for a while. In addition, such paper crafts perfectly develop fine motor skills of children’s hands, teach them to act step by step, select colors and do something with their own hands.

All boys love cars and the more racing cars, cars, trucks and tractors each boy has, the better. Therefore, today we will show you how to make a racing car with your own hands, using cardboard, toilet paper rolls, as well as scissors and felt-tip pens.

The toilet paper roll can be covered with colored paper, or it can be colored with felt-tip pens. Cut a hole approximately in the middle between the two ends of the bushing, this will be the place for our racer.

Try cutting out 4 circles from cardboard, these will be wheels. Color them with a black felt-tip pen. You can also cut out and color a steering wheel circle for our racing car. Glue the wheels and steering wheel to the car, and you can put a little person inside. You can play with such a handmade machine, and if you make a lot of machines, you can arrange fun competitions and other games.

How to make a paper car with your own hands in 3 minutes

For girls

For girls 7-8 years old, you can make an interesting type of craft from paper - the crown of a real princess. Every girl wants to be a beautiful princess at least a little, so it’s worth giving the baby this opportunity.

Small cardboard tubes are best suited for creating crowns; using toilet paper rolls should work well for this purpose. In addition, craft crowns will need to be decorated with something. To do this, you can use paper of different colors, original beads and much more, everything is limited only by your imagination.

Crowns from toilet paper rolls must be cut out carefully. You can use scissors to cut out a very ordinary crown with pointed peaks, or you can cut a circle at the end of each peak, so the crown will look more interesting. These beautiful crafts will need to be painted in different colors and an elastic band attached to the base of each crown made from toilet paper rolls.

Girls need to decorate such crafts. For children aged 7-8 years, it is important to do everything independently and with their own hands, so show the little ones general decorating schemes, help them, and they will do the rest themselves.

Modular origami crown assembly diagram

Paper flowers

The most beautiful and lightest paper flowers are made from corrugated paper. Such crafts will greatly delight children 7-8 years old, since with the help of corrugated paper, glue, scissors, stapler, colored paper and satin ribbon, you can make a beautiful decoration for a room or a gift.

So that you can make a lot of beautiful flowers from colored corrugated paper, you can arrange a master class for several children 7-8 years old, so you will show the children patterns for creating flowers with your own hands and you can make not one, but 3-4 crafts.

So, how to make beautiful three-dimensional flowers with your own hands using scissors and corrugated paper:

1. Cut 12 circles of the same diameter from corrugated paper.
2. Place each cut circle on top of another and stack them in one pile.
3. Use a stapler to secure the middle crosswise.
4. Now, using scissors, start making cuts along the edges of the circles, be sure to leave room for the middle.
5. Cut out a circle from colored paper, which will be our center.
6. Now you can fluff the edges of the resulting flowers and attach a satin ribbon to the flower to hang it in the room or on a panel.

Postcard for grandmother and mother / DIY paper crafts

Master class with photos

Children make amazing and original crafts in the form of mosaic appliqués from colored paper. It is entirely acceptable to use corrugated paper of different colors for appliqué.

Ask the children to draw on a blank piece of paper the outline of a fish, bunny or flower, which they will make in the form of a mosaic appliqué. Prepare strips of bright, possibly corrugated paper, which we will cut into squares for applique using scissors. Try to cut the squares correctly, only then the appliques made by yourself will be neat and even.

For children, it will be better to choose a glue stick, which can help stick appliques quickly and without problems. Start gluing the applique squares, trying not to go beyond the outline. For children, this task will not be difficult to cope with, and the applications will be cute and neat.

Volumetric crafts

You can make very cute three-dimensional crafts if you get 7-8 year old children interested in the origami technique. For example, you can try to make a three-dimensional modular origami butterfly, it will be very simple and interesting. It can even be folded from corrugated colored paper, and the patterns will be very light and original:

1. First we make a module, to do this we fold a piece of paper in half.
2. Turn over and fold the leaf in half again.
3. After this we bend the corners towards the middle.
4. We turn the workpiece over and bend the small corners up, then fold its entire lower edge up.
5. We bend it in half again and the module is ready.

To make a butterfly, you need to make a large number of modules that will form the body and wings of the origami butterfly. At the initial stage, you need to correctly form the body of the butterfly from the modules; if everything works out correctly, then you will need to attach wings to the outer modules. In fact, it is not necessary to adhere to the exact assembly scheme; it is quite possible to fantasize and use different original steps to make your origami unique and the cutest.

Modular origami butterfly assembly diagram

Animals

Animals are the favorites of absolutely all children, so we will try to make animal appliques using toilet paper rolls. First you need to choose what animal you will make. For example, you can choose a tiger, an elephant or a hippopotamus.

You can print one of the outlines on a piece of paper and cut it out using scissors. Children should be able to make things with their own hands, so let them work with the patterns completely on their own.

After cutting out the animals, bend them in the same way as shown in the picture. Be sure to bend the animal’s head along the dotted lines, so it will rise and be positioned correctly in relation to the body.

Under the body of the animal, after it is bent along the lines, you will need to start gluing toilet paper sleeves. Using a toilet paper tube will help make the animal's body more dense. This makes for very original toys.

To make the toy heavier and not fall from the wind, you can print the image on cardboard, and the toilet paper tube will need to be stuffed with the same toilet paper. You can decorate the toy with a bow made of corrugated paper, which can be easily made from a rectangle folded like an accordion and tied with thread.

As you can see, a wide variety of applications and crafts made from bright, corrugated and even toilet paper will help you keep your child occupied for a long time, and it will cost you mere pennies.

- a great way to fill walks on the street with delight and emotions. This summer craft is easier to make than it seems. And how much joy there will be!

Most likely, after your vacation at sea you brought with you a lot of “treasures”: shells and sea pebbles. But don’t rush to throw away this treasure, but turn it into children’s toys. - This is an excellent training for a child’s fine motor skills and imagination. Color, play and even use in your interior.

A glass of lemonade is a great summer craft for children in kindergarten or summer camp. For children of different ages, you can offer applications of varying complexity.

What would summer be without insects? Invite your children to make crafts from paper or plasticine about the life of insects. Invite them to fantasize about what ants drag into the anthill, cut out ladybugs, glue colorful wings to butterflies, leave prints of plastic caterpillars and beetles on plasticine.

Children look forward to summer for the sake of ice cream. A simple craft on the theme “Summer” made from colored paper will make the child happy for the rest of the day, at least.

Strawberries, cherries, watermelons and other berries, vegetables and fruits that summer is so rich in can also become ideas for summer crafts. They can be made from paper and cardboard, buttons or plasticine.

These paper plate summer ones are also unique because you can play with them. Both the octopus and the boat are individual crafts glued to wooden sticks that are threaded through a horizontal slot in a paper plate.

Another idea that can be made from plasticine on a marine theme is a jar with plasticine sea inhabitants: fish, jellyfish, starfish, shells, pebbles and algae.

Now you have 17 wonderful ideas for crafts and applications on the theme “Summer” that children can easily make with their own hands at home, in kindergarten or summer camp and have a lot of fun. We hope you will find something interesting to do with your child to extend his summer a little more. If you have more ideas for summer crafts, share them on our forum.

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