[Childcare] Playful craft ideas to enjoy with 5-year-olds
I want to enjoy crafts with a five-year-old, but they get bored with flat, two-dimensional projects…
Does that sound familiar?
Here are some craft ideas perfect for five-year-olds, whose thinking skills and ability to work on tasks are really blossoming—plus, they double as toys you can play with.
Enjoy the crafting process, and then try playing with the toys you made, both indoors and outdoors.
It’s also fine to lend and borrow toys with friends.
Kids tend to cherish toys they made themselves, so they’ll likely play with them carefully.
Teachers, why not make and play together too?
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[Childcare] Playful craft ideas to enjoy with 5-year-olds (91–100)
Making a drum with a balloon
Let’s try making a drum using a balloon! Cut off the mouth of a balloon and stretch it over a roll of packing tape.
Secure it firmly with electrical tape, and decorate the outside however you like to finish the drum.
For the drumsticks, attach a small, tightly balled piece of tissue to the end of a chopstick and fix it with electrical tape.
Then cover it with two plastic bottle caps and secure those with electrical tape as well to complete the sticks.
Since there aren’t many steps that require scissors, lots of kids can easily enjoy both crafting and making music!
Wiggly straw-made inchworm
Here’s a wiggly caterpillar craft perfect for spring that you can make with just one straw.
Prepare a straw with corrugations, a permanent marker, and scissors.
Stretch out the corrugated part to decide the caterpillar’s length, then cut the straw lengthwise with scissors, leaving the corrugated ridge intact.
Make a halfway cut at each corrugation, then skip one section at a time as you cut horizontally to open it up.
Bend the long strip you first cut and tuck it into the straw, then trim the pointed tip with scissors to finish.
Color it with a permanent marker to create your own unique caterpillar.
Move your caterpillar around and enjoy the feeling of spring!
Making houses out of thick paper (cardstock)
Here’s a guide to making an adorable cardboard house.
Use a ruler to sketch the house’s dimensions on the cardboard.
Carefully cut along the guidelines with scissors or a craft knife.
Add color to the cardboard using construction paper.
Cutting the construction paper with scissors is recommended, but tearing and pasting pieces might add a charming, handmade feel to the work as well.
Use glue to attach the parts and assemble them so they don’t fall apart.
Once you add the final decorations, your cute dollhouse is complete.
If you like, adding sparkly stickers or beads can make it even more charming!
figure-eight pinwheel
Feel the spring breeze! Here’s how to make a figure-eight pinwheel that’s perfect for preschool activities.
You will need: paper plates, double-sided tape, wood glue, bamboo skewers, beads, and decorations.
Cut out the centers of two paper plates.
Punch four holes, then combine the plates into a figure-eight shape using double-sided tape.
Put a bit of wood glue into a bead’s hole and attach it to a bamboo skewer.
After threading it through the hole, wrap tape around the skewer so the plate doesn’t slide down.
Assemble the second tier the same way, add decorations, and you’re done!
catch-ball machine
How about making a fun catch-ball machine that shoots the ball and pawn with a satisfying pop? First, cut a circle in the center of a paper plate to match the diameter of a toilet paper tube, then cut away one quarter of the plate and overlap the edges to form a cone, taping it in place.
Next, cut slits into one end of the toilet paper tube, hook two rubber bands in a cross shape into the slits, secure them with tape so they don’t come off, and attach a ball made by wrapping tissues with tape to the rubber bands.
Thread the toilet paper tube through the hole in the paper plate and fix it in place.
Finally, make one more soft ball out of tissues and tape, and you’re done.
It’s fun to play alone, and making several to play with family or friends sounds great too!
cardboard camera
Let me introduce a cardboard camera that’s perfect for a walk.
Prepare cardboard, cellophane, a paper cup, and double-sided tape.
Cut two pieces of cardboard to the size of the camera you want to make.
Take a paper cup that’s cut in half horizontally with slits cut vertically, place it against the cardboard, then cut out a lens shape and fit it in.
Stick colored cellophane over the top, glue the cardboard pieces together, and you’re done! Try adding a yarn strap for walks or changing the cellophane colors and decorating it as you like!
ruffous horseshoe bat
Just like a real bat! Here’s an idea for a flapping bat.
Bats are nocturnal and often rest during the day in caves, gaps in trees, or attics, but many children are familiar with them from Halloween illustrations and picture books.
This time, let’s make a flapping bat with origami.
All you need is origami paper cut to half size.
The steps are simple and easy to follow, so once kids learn the folds, they’ll likely be able to make one on their own!