5 Simple Creative Activities That Build Confidence in Kids

Small activities can get your kids imaginations moving. These projects are all focused on creativity, not necessarily skill, and can be done mostly with items you have at home. I’ve also arranged the list in order from easiest to hardest. It’s all about expressing and experimenting. Have fun!

1. Paint mixing experiment – Have you seen those videos of people mixing paint colors? Of course you have, they are everywhere! I for one cannot stop watching them. This is an easy way to get kids experimenting with colors and it’s fun for anyone! In a container that is safe to mix paint in, add water and a small amount of white watercolor or acrylic paint so the water is a little bit white, not clear. The white water helps you see the colors better. Get a muffin tray and fill the top row with enough of the white water to fill each well almost to the top. Mix a small amount of red, blue, and yellow, into one well each. In the next row, start mixing two of the colors together using large spoons. In the next row, try different colors. You can mix endlessly! Extra fun is to try and name the colors when you’re done.

• Materials
  • Watercolor paint (in tubes) or acrylic paint
  • Pitcher of water
  • Big spoons
  • Muffin trays
  • Cookie sheets to catch the drips
• Time ~20-30 minutes
• Ages – 2+

   

2. Play-doh Garden- I used to love doing this as a kid! Get out your Play-doh or clay. Get a casserole dish or something similar to hold the garden. Then go at it – make carrots, cabbages, tomatoes, corn, etc. and lay them in your garden in rows. This can become as easy or complicated as you like but the idea is for kids to think about what they want in their own garden and how they want to lay it out. I've found a cheap set of "nail tools" from the drug store make excellent sculpting tools.

• Materials
  • Play-doh or clay
  • Dish
  • sculpting tools (optional)
• Time ~30 min – 1 hour
• Ages – 5+

3. Create a comic book character – think Dogman not Marvel! Anyone can draw at this level. It’s thinking about the clothes, name, super powers, and back story that really get kids invested in making a character all on their own.

•  Materials
  • Pencil and eraser
  • Sketch pad
  • Markers
• Time ~15-30 minutes
• Ages – 8+

4. Make a bouquet of pressed wildflowers – cut 5 to 10 flowers from outside. Dandelions, goldenrod, grasses, any small flowers you can find can be arranged into a delicate bouquet. Arrange the flowers on a stack of about 5 pieces of thick paper. A sketch book works great for this. Printer paper is too thin. You can put a small amount of glue underneath to really hold it in place. Once it’s the way you like it, close the sketch book so the flowers are sandwhiched between several pieces of paper on each side. The paper will absorb the water in the flowers. Wait a week or two and your flowers will be pressed. This makes a sweet framed picture too!

• Materials
  • Flowers
  • Paper pad
  • White glue
  • Heavy books
• Time ~30 minutes
• Ages – 4+ with some adult help

5.  Eraser Stamps – This one is for older children who can confidently use a small sharp tool. Take your pink eraser and draw something simple on it in pen. Examples could be your name in block letters, the outline of a dog, flowers, even just stripes or a pattern. Then, with the cuticle scraper, cut away all the parts of your drawing you don’t want to be part of your design. What you have left will be pressed on the ink pad and make a fun stamp.

• Materials
  • Pink Erasers
  • Ball point pen
  • Cuticle scrapers
• Time ~30 min – 1 hour
• Ages - parent discretion

 💚 MH

• Why kids get frustrated with drawing

• Video-Tutorial Drawing Books

• Free Drawing Page

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