A Project List For Kids (Part 2)

"Baseball is a ballet without music.
Drama without words.
A carnival without kewpie dolls."
- Ernie Harwell

For your exploration, the annual Daisy Yellow project lists, updated with fresh ideas + links + old favorites. It's a list of diversions that I put together to manage the vast amounts of free time each summer, to fill the gaps between swimming, play dates and movies. These work in any season, so feel free to explore!

Ideas from Daisy Yellow (with suggested age ranges, your mileage may vary)

1. Paint Coffee Filter Sun Catchers to hang in front of your windows (age 1.5+)
2. Make Acrylic Leaf Prints (age 2+)
3. Make FIMO Fossils (age 2+)
4. Make Marshmallow Structures (age 6+)
5. Make Maps of your house, neighborhood, school, real & imaginary places! (age 3+)
6. Make bagels together
7. Get kids a camera; photograph and play with light together (age 6+)
8. Make an Infinity Calendar (age 4+)
9. Do an indoor Illustration Treasure Hunt in your illustrated books! (age 2 - 8)
10. Make an "All About Me" Board (age 4 - 12)
11. Draw mandalas (age 5+)
12. Make a Board Game (age 4+)
13. Discover Block Printing (age 3+)
14. Draw Shadow Spheres with pastels or colored pencils (age 4+)
15. Paint Wooden People (age 4+)
16. Try Neocolor Circles and Kids, Neocolors, Water (age 3+)
17. Get into Groovy Fun with Wikki Stix (age 2 - 10)
18. Make beads wth the FIMO Polymer Clay Project (age 4+)



19. Make FIMO Pendants (age 2+) 
20. Weave Paper into Artist Trading Cards (age 7+)
21. Print with Bubble Wrap (age 3+)
22. Pack up colored pencils + markers and Draw at Starbucks (age 3+)
23. Draw Comic Strips (read Calvin + Hobbes first) (age 5+)
24. Play Idea Prompts (age 5+)
25. Make plaid abstract art with a brayer (age 4+)



26. Make your summer reading list at Top Picks: Books for Kids 0-12
27. Paint terra cotta pots for your container garden (age 4+)
28. Visit your local farmers' market (all ages)
29. Sew paper or make a stitched writing journal (depends on the child; hand sewing, age 4+, machine sewing, perhaps age 7+)
30. Paint Spooky Painted Webs (age 3+)
31. Start Art Journaling (age 5+)
32. Make art with stamps (age 2+)
33. Doodle with glue or ink-colored glue (age 4+)
34. Play with india inks (age 7+)
35. Make maps of your house, the supermarket, school, real & imaginary places.

a mandala my older daughter (then 9) drew while we were in Germany, 7"x9" paper, papermate markers

Ideas from the web

1. Macrame a hemp bracelet from Rings & Things (age 6+)
2. Make Photo Necklaces, Magnets and More with Shrinky Dinks from Photojojo (age 4+)
3. Great resources to get your kids sewing from Sew, Mama, Sew in Easy Hand Sewing for Kids
4. Try any of the 50 Summer Project Ideas from The Long Thread
5. A list of Odd Art Jobs from The Teaching Palette fill smaller bits of time and get organized
6. Do Spin Art with your kids at Brassy Apple (bonus journal fodder for you)
7. Watch the cutest Schoolhouse Rock grammar videos, each 3 minutes long and kid friendly, with bonus 1970s typography: Adjectives {above}, Adverbs, Pronouns, Nouns, Verbs, Prepositions, Interjections {my kids' fav}, Conjunction Junction
8. Do An Activity a Day (31 activities) at The Artful Parent
9. maya*made has a lovely list of projects to make each season
10. Funky children's projects by material from The Crafty Crow: What Can You Make From Cardboard Tubes?  From Plastic?  From a Cardboard Box? and From an Egg Carton?
11. At The Wonder Years, Craft Weaving.
12. Play Dictionary Games with ideas from The Creative Homeschool.
13. Do a Wire Sculpture at Camp Creek Blog (and learn about the Project Approach)
14. At 2 Things Challenge you "Interpret the 2 weekly subjects any way you wish, in a photograph, collage, painting, poem, song, or whatever you can dream up" and responses are presented in mosaic format. I enjoyed the interpretations of Hot/Cold. Via Kids Who Think.
15. Do a polka dot leaves experiment and Acorn Jewelry at 5 Orange Potatoes.
16. Create Mexican amate drawings with this lesson from Davis Art
17. Make paper sculptures at Color Color Color.



18. Pink and Green Mama has a myriad of kid-centric art projects, including Gorgeous Georgia O'Keefe Flowers
19. Try the Story Starter Game from Red Bird Crafts.
20. At Chocolate Cake Moments, click on Seasonal Fun for projects by season.
21. Fabric painting using stencils made from freezer paper at  do stuff!
22. Art Projects for Kids has a project called "Watercolor Still Life" involving painting a picture with just one color, adjusting the color by adding different amounts of water. 
23. Math Cats provides a string art project which can be done with colored pencils and a ruler or string.
24. Paint your driveway with cornstarch sidewalk paint at Pink & Green Mama.

More inspiration
A Creative Childhood
Little Projects for Creative Kids
Encourage Creativity, Get Back to Basics
A Summer Project List (Part 1) and A Project List for You (Part 3)