Kids Arts and Crafts on a Budget

Kid's crafts do not need to be elaborate. On cold winter afternoons when you need a way to keep your kids active, you don't need to spend on a lot of money on supplies. Here are a couple ideas for art projects that won't break the bank that your kids will really enjoy.

If you live near a park, get the kids out of the house and take a walk to look for pine cones. When you get home, let the kids paint them any color of the rainbow they like. Pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and feathers allow you to turn these into a wide variety of critters. Let imaginations go wild!

If you're like me, you have too many old jars lying around that you're "saving" as Tupperware, but don't really need. So let your kids turn them into artistic trinket container! This craft is perfect to do with your kids, especially if they have collections or just tons of odds and ends that need organizing. Click here for instructions on how to do it. Basically, besides from a jar all you need is some paint, stickers, and mod podge. Easy and inexpensive, with plenty of room to experiment and be creative!

Give your kids a little art history about ancient Rome and Greece, and spend an afternoon making a paper mosaic on the back of a paper plate. Arts and crafts stores sell bags of paper precut to small squares, or you can just search through magazines and cut out blocks of color as needed.