| | Fun art/craft for kids in summer - visit the park, collect nature items, then glue them on a big sheet of paper to illustrate a story about the visit to the park, or to create a summer collage. |
| | Summertime birthday party for girls, age 6-12 - make 'grass skirts' with wide masking tape and streamers; make leis with inch-long pieces of plastic drinking straws combined with 'flower' shapes pre-cut from fabric, make bracelets with froot-loop type cereal |
| | Fathers' Day: using pre-cut or pre-drawn designs, color, cut out, and laminates a tie for dad. |
| | Making a little terrarium out of wintergreen is a lovely holiday activity, which is a fun outdoors family activity. You gather the plant up in the early morning or early evening, when it is moist and shady. This plant is a prolific producer and if anything will need to be trimmed now and then to keep it under control, or in a pretty shape. Gather the wintergreen in a plastic bag lined with a moist paper towel, and handle carefully. Cut at a spot where you want to dig out a small shoot of the plant, about 8" long. Take the shoot, and do this: put a bit of soil from the forest floor in the bottom of the container first. Next, wind the shoot around the soil, being sure to tuck the cut end into the soil. Growth stimulating hormone is available at your Florist or floral Supply store. You can get small glass containers there too. But I like to look around in the "Dollar Store", where I can always find small plain round bowls, which are exactly what I want. After planting the terrariu |
| | Home beautification projects and crafts such as learn how to refinish furniture... learn what type of flowers to plant and where... how to make your own draperies... etc. Summertime is a good time for home improvement crafts |
| | Make bird feeders |
| | Make window art |
| | Build things from Popsicle sticks |
| | Make a squirt gun banner – fill squirt guns with paint and go at it |
| | Collect shells and make wreaths or swags and attach the shells with a glue gun or white glue and ribbon bows. You can purchase the wreaths or make them with some eucalyptus. |
| | Dream catchers made pretty much from scratch, using yarn, shells, feathers, and a wooden circle frame from a craft store |
| | Wind chimes- basically use the same supplies, just have shells or rocks hanging down to bang against one another and make beautiful sounds |
| | Basket weaving |
| | Painting planters for small houseplants |
| | Ceramics (I've never met an adult who didn't like ceramics; while I'm sure they exist, there aren't many!) |
| | Jewelry making, using only glass beads |
| | Wind socks |
| | Making/decorating scarecrows for a garden |
| | Decorating thermometers for inside or outside |
| | Make sock puppets with glitter, felt and markers with young children during summer camp. |
| | Create a tabletop centerpiece made of fruit and candies during the summer (adults.) |
| | Make yarn wrapped eyes |
| | paper machie |
| | origami |
| | Something I did in second grade, and loved, was spatter painting with watercolor paints. You put items on a piece of paper, maybe leaves, or anyway something with good defined edges, and get some color onto a toothbrush and use your fingers to spatter it. Do different colors, one after the other, for neat effects. |
| | Sand art made by layering colored sand (grind up chalk into the sand) in a clear container |
| | Sea chest -- I bought the little wooden boxes from Wal-Mart for $1 each. The kids painted them; glued seashells on them, and then decorated them with super glue. They looked beautiful, and they could store things in them. |
| | Seniors - working with clay to be able to exercise hands to help with arthritis - great for summer fun |
| | July 4th-- Make a soldier mobile using hangers, red, white and blue construction paper circles, and string. Write down the name of a soldier on a circle, punch a hole in the top and thread with yarn or string. Tie the circles to the hanger and let them dangle. |
| | In the summer to make and decorate a stepping stone good for all ages |
| | Have kids make toad houses for the garden by painting clay pots and then putting them in the garden for the toads to move into. Place the pots on their sides with the opening facing towards the north to keep the sun out. You can also slightly tip them so the top rim is down but there is still an opening for the toads to get in and out so that the inside stays more shaded and cool for the toads. Be sure to put fresh water nearby. |
| | For kids, ages 5-9, some summertime craft iease are: homemade bubbles (using corn syrup and dish liquid), cooked play dough (using flour, salt, and cream of tartar), rafts made of popsicle sticks, homemade popsicles made in ice-cube trays, and memory books made from school items (pictures drawn in school, stories written in school). |
| | Learn how to make a therapeutic pillow (filled with such things as Lavender, etc. Learn how to make soap from all your soap pieces (thereby being thrifty as well as creative!) Take the time to learn how to act like a child again *granted, this may not be an art or a craft, but it is worth the time to do it! One last thing, perhaps each person attending could teach another something that they consider themselves crafty with? (Adults) |
| | Making dandelion wine. There are many resources available online to help in making it and dandelions are widely available during the summer. |
| | Art photography. Summer is probably one of the best times to take the camera out and find people at work or play and a wide variety of greenery and flowers. Wildlife is also easier to photograph this time of year. The photos could even be used in another good craft project, scrap booking. |
| | Body painting. The warmer weather allows for more skin to be exposed to paint. Also, paint works better in warmer weather. |