Quick crafts and activities - mess and hassle free

Mamatomo Mama
Apr 8, 2018
3 min read

Those days that you need a filler but you don't have the energy or time for a mess... These are ideas for those days!

I keep my crafts in two separate boxes. One is messy -paints, glue, glitter, etc. and the other is filled with beads, feathers, craft sticks, mixed ribbon, colored cord and washi tape (patterned tape). One the days where I don't want a mess or a fuss, I bring out the second box.

Make a bracelet or necklace

You only need coloured cord and beads for this one. If your kid is old enough to thread beads on then you can sit and daydream while they are busy. Tie it at the end and done. Great for teaching patience, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and pincer grip.

Make a pasta necklace with washi tape

You can skip the glue part and just roll the pasta in washi tape if you want to keep things simple. Thread on some string or cord. See the blog post for full details on how to make it.

Make a craft stick bracelet

You have to presoak the craft sticks but why not do this one day when you have time and have them ready to use? Wrap in washi tape, glue on sparkles or, even better, have some stick on ones.. beautiful! See the blog post for more details.

Get your glue gun out

and decorate something. A headband, make a sock puppet... get your kid to arrange everything how they want it to go and you do the gluing after. The best part is that hot glue dries quickly so you have instant gratification. Every kids' favourite!

With this headband, I cut some felt to size and had my daughter lay everything down on the felt. I then glued it on and glued the felt onto the headband. She loves that she made it herself.

Origami

I have posted about origami a couple of times. Have a look if you're interested in a quick and easy activity for your kids - daruma dolls and paper airplanes and boats.

Make a memory box

These are great. We made ours because we were moving abroad but the kids use them to store anything that they are currently in love with or that doesn't have a place. Inside are photos, things that they've been given by people like birthday cards, tickets from days out and party favors. Get a box. Wrap in plain paper (or paint). Decorate - add stickers, washi tape or anything else you can find! The point is filling them though. Find things around the house that invoke memories, print out some pictures. It's a fun activity and kids love to go back and look again and again at their memory box. Ours are 7 months old and still going strong.

Buy some play noodles

These are available from discount stores for very little money. All you need is to dab on some water and they stick together. Endless hours of creativity. They'd travel well in a busy bag too - you could even use them on an airplane! We use a paintbrush to paint the water on but you don't have to - my kids drop them in the water and the noodles end up all soggy so I'm trying to avoid this!

Raid your kitchen

Get out all your tongs, large spoons, ladles, chopsticks. Find two baskets or boxes and have your kid practice transferring craft pom poms from one basket/box to the other. Fun and clean! Great for practicing coordination and fine motor skills.