The Dollar Tree:Summer Crafts for Kids on a Budget
Reading Time: 8 minutes Bonus: Why you should encourage creativity and crafts? What the research says…
“There’s nothing to do.” If I had a dime for every time I heard this, right?! It is the beginning of summer, so it is very possible we do not have our routine set up quite yet.
True confessions, I am not a crafty mom. I come from a long line of incredibly creative and artistic women. My mom came to my house when I was just starting out, this is where you read no money, and determined I needed wall art.
We bought 11 square “sushi” dishes, 3 colors of paint, paint brushes and enamel spray for the top. The entire project cost $22. My mom proceeded to come up with different designs of squares, almost like frames within frames with the colors: burgundy, black and silver, using only two on each sushi dish. Then she Velcro’d them to the wall. I had no idea you could use velcro dots to put stuff on a wall, but you can. She put those 11 dishes in some random but very linear or straight edged pattern where they stayed for 13 years. People constantly commented on it. Those dishes finally lost their “stick” and one by one fell and shattered. I only replaced them this year. So, alas I have no picture.
I have two points about this story. One, an incredibly creative woman, my mom. Two, DIY or art on a budget does not have to be paper plate or noodle art. It can be show stopping, jaw dropping and conversation worthy on $22.
If you know me, you know one thing I love and pretty much prize above all else is facts and research. So, of course I wanted to know the value of creativity. It turns out you should absolutely build creative pursuits into your summer plans with the children.
Fun facts about the science and research of creativity:
- You have three networks in your brain: Recognition, Strategic and Affective
- Creativity does not rely on the left or right brain, instead consisting of conscious, unconscious and emotional decisions
- Uniquely, creative endeavors “fire up” all three networks to work together as a team
The value of creativity in our children could be a whole other blog. I simply wanted you to have enough facts to see the value in doing something this summer that is “artsy fartsy,” especially if you are not a crafty person, as I am not.
Are you ready to share laughter with your child?
Get this list of 32 clean joke-“cut outs”!- Two different lists, one with the punchline and one w/o
- Created on “cut outs” so you can do “a joke a day” for one month
- Hide a joke each day and create anticipation and fun
- Come together at the end of the day with guesses for the answer
- Creates a whole new game and topic of conversation
There are a dozen ideas on Pinterest and search engines about crafts you can do at The Dollar Tree, so rather than have links to specifics, I am going to tell you what I saw as possibilities. My recommendation is to think of yourself, your child, the age of your child and their interests and then find the “focal point” object and build around it.
1.Wall art: My first idea is those sushi dishes my mom did. First find the dishes. There are a ton of random dishes at the dollar store. Then go to the paint aisle and see if you can get craft paint that will work. Find stickers, glitter, glue, paint brushes, etc. Everything you need for this project. What you cannot find, but still need-write down. My guess is the enamel spray and the velcro dots you will need to find elsewhere.
2. Flip Flops: Everyone loves to have something quick to throw on their feet in the summer, even if it is just to go out to get the mail and not burn their feet on the pavement. The Dollar Tree is a great place to go to find cheap flip flops for the “main event.” Then allow each child to determine how they will decorate. You can look on Pinterest if you have a child that wants to be inspired or do more complicated work. I have a guy who likes to make images of super heroes in obscure ways. We just did a mandala rock painting class and he made Spider Man, Batman and Captain America all in mandala forms. I think he would amaze me with this flip flop activity. He is 26 by the way, super heroes never go out of style.
3. Beach ball: I know this one seems random. Truly, if you look up beach ball art you will mostly get random crafts of people who want to create beach balls on paper plates. My thought is why on Earth would you create a flat beach ball when you can have a real one? Remember, I had boys. In my experience, boys love balls and love to throw them. Beach balls are perfect because inevitably this activity makes its way inside. The art of a beach ball: decorate it, I saw a really cute lady bug and bee beach balls online. We did questions on a beach ball and wherever your right thumb landed when you caught it, that was the question you had to answer. These can be fun, random conversational starters or for a high school football party we did football trivia.
4. Pots: this one seems so overdone, everyone says buy pots and paint them. Allowing your child to choose their favorite plant, decorate it and then find a lovely succulent or herb is a great craft for a younger child. However, if you have an older child, consider some more advanced ideas: create a fairy garden, this involves possibly breaking a pot and creating an “open floor plan,” using shards of the broken pot as “steps” in the fairy home to get to the top tier where the house is, which you can probably pick up at The Dollar Tree, decorate with fanciful items, like tiny furniture and an actual fairy, all of which you may find there as well.
Another idea is the magic of three. Create a stunning visual art piece of three small pots whether hanging or on staggered shelving.
One idea…get different pots, different shape boxes.
This takes planters to a whole new level!
5. Pebbles: if I were “let go” in the dollar store to choose my favorite item that I needed to make some project out of, I think I would end up with the colored glass pebbles. I have bought them numerous times, never knowing what I will do with them. They are just so pretty and feel good in my hands. I discovered you can make amazing magnets for your family whiteboard, if you have one, or refrigerator. If you like to paint and decorate you can even get out a very fine paintbrush and “gussy” them up. I live in Arizona, so we can “catch” the sun all year long. These glass pebbles would make a lovely sun catcher.
6. Frames: I was not going to include frames, it is just too simple. However, this is summer. You will be doing family activities this summer and creating lasting memories. Encouraging your child to create a special frame to put that one picture that brought them true joy this summer is incredibly meaningful. It gives your child something to look forward to, they are going to be on the “hunt” for positivity and joy this summer and they are going to be doing their own evaluations and learning to assess in their own minds. From an educational standpoint, almost every classroom I was ever in, the first writing assignment, which I always hated, was, “what did you do this summer?” your child will have a joyful memory on hand, with a picture!
7. Water bottle: people judge, wrong or right, they do. First impressions, we are told are super important. Many of us these days are carrying a water bottle. It is a current craze to “sticker up” those bottles. These stickers say a lot about who you are, what you value and your sense of humor. You can allow your children to have different water bottles, they are cheap at The Dollar Tree. I am going to totally ignore the whole BPA thing right now; I am pretty sure those $1 bottles do not have a BPA free rating. I like to talk about the importance of teaching your children emotional intelligence skills. Your children could go beyond the typical wit, rainbows, places or humor stickers and instead have “mood” bottles. What if they had a “feeling groovy” day or a “I wish I could have slept through today” or a “I have hope it will get better”? Do you see what I mean? Water bottles which were such an easy project just turned into an introspective look at how they feel at different times in their lives, how they want to present this and then finding the materials and colors to do so.
8. Food containers: I am adding one that I am good at that is probably not on any Pinterest list as a craft. I strongly believe that cooking can be very creative. Cooking can be a way to teach independent living skills to your children and you can have fun in the kitchen. It can also be one of those wonderful gifts you give someone else. Choose a food container and then a way to decorate it, I wimp out in the creativity department and find a pre-made flower in their silk/craft area and create a little arrangement on the lid with ribbon. I then find a fun recipe I want to make, let it cool, if necessary, put it in the container with the lovely ribbon and flower and often one of those wonderful $1 cards.
The summer is a fabulous time to encourage creativity in your children. The Dollar Tree has shelves and shelves of ideas just waiting for you and your kiddos to walk in and create amazing crafts this summer on a budget. You can help your child engage their mind and bust through boredom, while enjoying the time together. Post a picture on your instagram of a craft you did with #epicpublishercrafts so we can all see what we are doing and get lots of ideas!
“Good creative atmosphere around here. Even the pigeons are poets downtown.”
from All I Want for Christmas