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Free Summer Crafts

Free summer crafts are a great thing to do without worrying about your budget. Our craft ideas are free and easy. The warm weather of summer is a great time to go outdoors and use materials you couldn't use before. Believe it or not, there may come points in summer where you have run out of things to do. Trying one of our free summer crafts will wipe away your boredum and get you into the spirit of summer.

Name Plate Decoration (ages 4+)

Our name plate decoration is a great way to take something ordinary and change it into something completely different while making it look great.

For this craft you will need

A frisbee (it can be an old/used frisbee but you may wish to clean it before using it)
Craft paint
Paint brushes
Glue
Glitter
Decorating materials (stickers, pom-poms, etc.)

Cover your workspace with newspaper if you are working inside to avoid getting paint on furniture. You may also wish to wear a smock or old clothes because craft paints are usually permenant.

1. Take the frisbe and paint it using the color of your choice.
2. Let dry.
3. If you would like to add some excitement to your frisbe you way wish to splatter or sponge paint it or paint on designs with another color after the first coat has dried.
4. After your frisbee has dried completely, write your name in glue on the frisbee along with any other decorations (like swirls or smilies) you wish to have.
5. Carefully pour glitter on top of the frisbee making sure that glitter is covering all the areas with glue.
6. Wait a few minutes for the glue to start drying and then shake off the excess glitter over a garbage can or newspaper.
7. After the glue and glitter has dried fell free to decorate the frisbee with anything else you would like.

This project can also be done with letter stickers or paint pens as opossed to glitter for writing the name because glitter can become quite messy. If you wish to use glitter we also suggest that you may wish to use glitter pens as an alternative to pouring on glitter.

Want to do something creative or want to do this craft with a large group? Give each person a frisbree along with various materials and challenge them to make something out of it. Have fun sharing what each person made.

Summer Craft Tip #1

Summer is a great time to use materials that are normally a pain to use indoors because they can get pretty messy. Take advantage of the nice weather and do projects involving materials that are typically hard to use indoors like paint or glitter. You'll probably notice we use a few of these materials in our free summer crafts.

Pebble Art (ages 8+)

Our pebble art craft is a great way to use materials from nature to make a great mosiac-like decoration and is one of the most creative looking of our free summer crafts.

For this craft you will need:

A pencil
A large rock (it should have at least one flat surface)
Pebbles or small shells
White glue or tacky glue

1. Using the pencil, draw a design on the rock.
2. Sort your pebbles or small shells by shade/color.
3. Outline part of the picture you drew on the rock with glue.
4. Place several pebbles/shells of one color along that line. Place each pebble/shell on the line so it is touching the one before it.
5. Continuing by putting glue in the inside of shape and placing a different shade of pebble/shell on the inside.
6. Put glue around the outside of the shape and cover it with another shade of pebbles/shells.

Be sure not to put too much glue on at once so it doesn't dry up before you get to it. It is best to use very different shades of pebbles such as very dark for the backround, very light for the outline, and a shade in between for the inside so each area stands out and people can see your design.

Summer Craft Tip #2

Chalk is a great material to use outside in the summer (plus, it comes off with just a little water). Try giving each kid a box and telling them to draw whatever they want inside the box. Compare how different each child's box is in the end. You can also try making one big mural by telling everyone to be spontaneous by drawing whatever they want wherever they want on a given surface. Chalk projects make great free summer crafts.

My Own Sand Art (ages 5+)

Sand art is always a favorite of everyone and is one of our easiest and most fun free summer crafts.

For this craft you will need:

Sand
Several different colors of chalk
Wax paper
A cutting board
A pencil or stick
Clear glass or plastic bottles
A cap for the bottle or glue
Newspaper

1. Cover your work area with newspaper. We suggest doing this craft outside to eliminate unwanted mess in your house from the sand.
2. Place a sheet of wax paper over the cutting board.
3. Take some sand and put it on the wax paper.
4. Take a piece of chalk and roll it over the sand until it has completely turned the color of the chalk.
5. Shake the sand to the middle of the wax paper and the flod it in half and carefully pour it into the bottle.
6. Use the pencil or stick to push the snad down into the bottom of the bottle and create waves in the sand.
7. Repeat again with other colors until the bottle is full.
8. Replace the cap. If you do not have a cap, stop putting sand in the bottle when it is a half an inch from the top of the bottle. Compact the sand with the pencil or stick and then fill the bottle with glue up until the top and let dry.

If rubbing chalk on the sand is to hard, you can also place some snad in a plastic bag and add one drop of food coloring to give it some color. Otherwise, you can just buy some colored sand.

More Ideas

Crafts For All Seasons has more summer crafts that you can make. Check out the site for more fun crafts for the entire family!

Sources For the Free Summer Crafts and Ideas

Williams, Joy
Nature Crafts
Creative Kids

Kaboose

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