Essential List of Crafting-With-Kids Supplies

What do you do when the weather looks like this? Head on over to Something Together to see our newest Easter craft project!

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In my previous post I promised to offer a full list of supplies that I’ve been collecting over the past few years and sticking in my activity supply closet for a rainy day. Actually, we usually do an arts and craft activity in the morning whether the weather is nasty outside or not. It passes the time nicely after breakfast. I’ve created two separate lists, one is a list of items that I think are a must-have for any crafting-with-kids-stash and the other is a list of re-useable and re-purposed household items I’ve found clever uses for.

Crafting-With-Kids Must Have Supplies:

• Brown paper lunch bags
• Clothes pins
• Cotton balls, white and colored
• Pipe cleaners
• Washable markers, crayons, colored pencils, and paints
• Fingerpaint
• Clay or Play Doh
• Glue sticks and liquid school glue
• Popsicle sticks {also called crafting sticks}
• A wide variety of stickers {Check Dollar Tree!}
• Coloring book collection {Again, Dollar Tree}
• Colorful felt squares {sold as 1×1′ squares in craft stores}
• Colorful construction paper
• Colorful card stock
• Paper plates and bowls
• Glitter
• Scrap fabrics or fat quarters {sold in bundles near the fabric department of craft stores, as well as low-cost fabric shops like Joann’s.}
• Different sizes of googly eyes
• Beads of different sizes
• Play feathers {sold in craft stores}
• Variety of colorful yarn
• Rubber bands
• Contact paper {sold in the kitchen organization section at Walmart}
• Brads
• Paint brushes and paint sponges
• Unused spiral notebooks or composition books {great for nature journals, preserving feathers and flowers found outside}
• Tissue paper
• Sidewalk chalk
• Aluminum foil
• Rick-rack, ribbon, raffia, and other fun kinds of ribbon and string
• Colorful pasta

All of the above can be found at surplus stores, office supply stores, the dollar store, and craft stores for very little money.

Re-purposed Household Items to Use for Crafting

• Toilet paper and paper towel rolls
• Bubble wrap
• Empty oatmeal canisters
• Shoe boxes
• Empty veggie cans
• Empty baby food jars
• Old or mismatched socks
• Empty egg cartons, both Styrofoam and cardboard
• Empty plastic cartons such as sour cream cartons, milk cartons, yogurt cartons, etc. {I used an empty sour cream carton to make a train tunnel in Something Together}
• Large paper grocery bags
• Empty tissue boxes
• Empty coffee canisters
• Old clothes, hats, and shoes of yours for dress up play
• Empty match boxes
• Cardboard boxes
• Old gift bags
• Paint samples in a variety of colors {free from Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes, and other home improvement stores}
• Old holiday and birthday cards {the fronts of the cards can be reused to make new cards, puzzles, picture frames, refrigerator magnets, book marks, and much more}
• Wall paper samples
• Carpet samples {wonderful for texture exploration}
• Empty juice boxes {I cut them open and rinse them out, then we can use them in the sandbox as little houses and create an entire town}
• Clean plastic straws
• Old buttons {we have a large button box that Little loves to pull out to sort and play with}
• Plastic ice cube trays {work beautifully for sorting small odds and ends while making a masterpiece}
• Lids from all kinds of things: mousse canisters, soda bottles, milk bottles, plastic cartons, etc. {Lids work perfectly for paint holders and paint trays while crafting}
• Empty soda bottles {can be transformed into bird feeders or use the bottom of the bottle to make a lovely flower stamp}
• Sea shells or rocks from your own yard or a recent vacation. {We love to collect rocks from the places we go and then paint them into goofy creatures together.}
• Old t-shirts of yours {perfectly over-sized on a kiddo to use as a smock}

What re-purposed or recycled household items have you found crafty uses for with your little ones? Am I forgetting anything or missing out on a clever idea? Let me know! If you need any help finding any of the items I mentioned above, feel free to ask for help!

Blessings,

Kat