Some Summer Craft Ideas For Children

Button Stampers
A quick and easy way to make cute mini stampers for kids, using corks and buttons. The children can help you make these pretty stampers and then have lots of fun printing with them.

What you need:
- Corks
- Buttons
- Strong glue
- Paint

How to make button stampers

• Gather some corks and a selection of buttons. Those with interesting shapes or textures work well. You could also experiment with coins, dried pasta and foam shapes too.
• Use glue to stick one button onto the end of a cork and leave to dry.
• You now have a collection of cute stampers all ready to try out.
• Dip your stampers in paint and print away. You can make pretty pictures or these work well as cards, gift tags and home made gift wrap too.

Egg Box Ladybirds

Turn an old egg carton into some cute ladybirds with this quick and easy craft for kids. Here are the step by step instructions.

What you need:

- Egg box

- Paint

- Googly eyes

How to make your ladybird

• Carefully cut out one section from the egg box (an adult may need to do this as it is quite fiddly).
• Paint the whole thing red.
• Use black paint to paint the face and the spots. The top tip of a cotton bud is great for printing the spots all over the ladybirds body - just dip it in the paint and print.
• Add a smile using white paint and glue on some googly eyes.

Your child might come up with other ideas to transform your egg carton shapes - maybe they could become aliens, hedgehogs or several threaded together could make a caterpillar? Let your children come up with their own ideas too.

Model Fairy Houses

Transform a boring old toilet roll into a pretty fairy house. A quick and easy craft for kids. Here are the step by step instructions.

What you will need:

- Toilet paper roll

- Scissors

- Sellotape

- Scraps of patterned paper

- Bun cases

How to make a toilet roll fairy house

• Cut a rectangle of paper just slightly larger than your toilet paper roll. Wrap the roll in the paper and secure with tape.
• The neatest and easiest way to decorate the ends of the roll is to make snips all the way round the overlapping paper and then fold the flaps inwards down the toilet paper roll.
• Cut out little shapes out of card or paper for the windows and doors and add details with a felt pen. Glue them in place.
• A pretty bun case makes the perfect roof for your fairy house - simply glue one on top and you then your house is complete. Why not make a whole row? Of course you can paint your houses instead or use felt pens to decorate - whatever you choose. You can also cut round the door so it opens and cut out the windows so you an see through them.