Keep Your Little Ones Occupied During The Weekends & Holidays With These Incredibly Fun & Wholesome Art Activities For Kids! The Best Part? No Fancy Art Supplies Needed!
The weekends and holidays are finally within sight. Some of you are looking forward to that trip you’ve planned for the family, but others may sigh at the thought of juggling quality time and keeping hyperactive kids occupied at home.
Well here’s a little win for you. Weekends and school holidays are the perfect time for a little creative chaos…the good kind. Not those that turn your living room into a mess, but the ones that keep your little ones happily engaged with their artistic side while you catch a well-earned break (unless you decide to join in on the fun, which we highly recommend!).
If you’ve been hunting for screen-free activities that don’t involve last-minute trips to the mall or a full set of fancy (and often, expensive) art supplies, you’re in for an absolute treat. We’ve rounded up some incredibly fun art activities that have been a hit among our friends’ and colleagues’ kids, and we’re finally ready to share it with you!
From colourful 3D portraits to classic paper plate designs, each artistic activity is packed with hands-on fun that helps your kids express themselves and stay engaged. This means moments of well-deserved peace and rest for you because you may not even need to go to your nearest Art Friend or mall for supplies to pull them off.
So whether you’re an artsy-crafty parent yourself or someone who dreads glue and paint, these fun yet fuss-free art activities are something both you and your little ones can look forward to enjoying at home!
11 Incredibly Fun & Easy Art Projects For Kids To Keep Those Little Hands Busy
1. 3D Crepe Paper Portrait
Portraits aren’t only for painted pieces and photographs. Especially when there’s a fun, colourful, crinkly, and easy way to bring portraits to life through imaginative play! 3D crepe paper portraits are fun art pieces where younger children draw or paint out a face, then use bits of crepe paper to build textured forms of hair, lips, clothes, and even funky accessories.
It’s one of the most budget-friendly creative activities to explore as you only need a few simple materials such as crepe paper, a glue stick or white glue, a sheet of drawing paper, and some colored pencils. And the plus point? Minimal mess. Sure there will be a few stray bits of paper here and there, but cleaning up is effortless with your trusty vacuum or broom!
2. Egg Painting
Why limit egg painting only to the Easter celebrations when you can do it all-year round without the festive association to the Easter egg? Egg painting is one of the easiest and cheapest art activities where kids transform eggs into tiny works of art using food coloring or even stickers. Think painting faces, patterns, animals, or even dip-dyeing it with various colours to create a truly whimsical-looking egg!
Before you get too excited and get the raw eggs out to play, I strongly recommend using only hard-boiled eggs or store-bought plastic eggs from Art Friend for this art activity. Using hard-boiled eggs or non-edible egg shaped bases makes it truly kid-safe. The rest of the art essentials you’ll need are various food colours, brushes or cotton swabs, and maybe some googly eyes for that extra bit of fun.
3. Paint-By-Number Colorful Butterflies
Some of you may wonder “why butterflies in particular?”. I feel that butterflies offer the perfect blend of colour play and focus - colour play because of its typical rainbow hue, and focus because of its intricacies.
Here, kids will follow a number-coded template to fill in a beautiful butterfly in bright, joyful colours. Imagine colouring, but with training wheels. It’s a structured way to train their focus while developing hand-eye coordination.
The best part? All you need is a paint-by-number butterfly printable which you can easily download online (or even draw one out on your own!) or a "stained glass butterfly", watercolor paints and a paintbrush or coloured pencils, and some tissues for additional clean up.
4. Whimsical Paper Plate Designs
Paper plates aren’t just for birthday parties and barbeques! They’re a versatile blank canvas that’s just waiting to be turned into animal masks, emoji faces, colourful wheels, a whimsical clock, or even your little one’s next Picasso piece!
All you need are basic materials such as plain paper plates, oil pastels, some crayons, coloured pencils, or permanent markers and your little one can start running wild with their imagination. If you want to jazz it up for them, you can even throw in some yarn, googly eyes, felt, or even crepe paper to mix and match designs, or turn it into a spin art session. It’s truly the most affordable and least messy art activity you can get your little ones to enjoy!
Fun Fact: Did you know that you can also create a clock that works through paper plate art? While this activity is more for the older kids, it's a fantastic one that nurtures problem solving abilities amongst young minds, especially amongst those who enjoy creating!
5. Fork-Stamped Tulips (One of our top favourite easy art activities!)
Why use a paintbrush, when you have a kitchen drawer full of versatile things that can be used to create artsy magic? Fork-stamped tulips are an incredibly easy yet oddly satisfying painting project that turns your everyday utensil into flower-making wonders.
You’ll only need to gather plastic forks (or old metal ones that you intend to recycle/dispose), child-safe acrylic paint or poster paint, and drawing paper. Once these are in place, your little ones can dip the forks into their favourite paint colours and start stamping away to create impressions of their ideal tulip field.
This particular activity is one of my personal favourite art projects to enjoy with little ones because of how simple it is, and yet its benefits are immense. Think improved fine motor coordination and vibrant self-expression to deviate from how flowers are typically coloured.
Pro Tip: Line the base of your kid’s painting area with newspapers or a large rag to keep clean up to a minimum. Additionally, keep a bowl of water on standby for your kids to rinse their forks in between colours.
6. 100 Wishing Paper Cranes
Folding paper cranes tie into the Japanese art of folding paper, origami. It’s one of the most calming yet symbolic art activities for kids that develops patience, instills hope, and a sense of quiet joy amongst those who practice it thanks to its roots in a beautiful Japanese tradition; where if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, you’d be granted a wish or good luck.
But let’s be real, 1,000 is a crazy stretch so we’re starting with 100 for long holidays, and 10 for a quick weekend project. What you’ll need are origami papers, tissue paper squares, or any square paper cut from old magazine pages, art blocks, or wrapping paper, a little patience, and a box to collect the paper cranes.
It’s an art activity that is almost free, especially if you use recycled paper. Another often overlooked perk of this art activity is how you can even turn it into a family-wide challenge where everyone contributes a few cranes per day!
Bonus Tip: Quietly grant your little one a wish they’ve expressed recently once they have successfully filled up their box with 100 wishing paper cranes. This will make it a truly magical experience for them amidst all the fun!
7. Coffee Painting
What if traditional watercolours were swapped out for…coffee? Yes, that’s right. Coffee painting involves having your kids turn your morning brew into beautiful brown-toned masterpieces, making it a truly toxic-free painting activity for them.
Not only does it smell great, but it’s also a calming activity that introduces kids to rustic art and the beauty of patience. The things you’ll need to set up a coffee painting station for your kids are incredibly simple, and typically things you already have at home too - instant coffee (or brewed coffee that has been filtered properly through coffee filters) that has been cooled down, a few cups or bowls for different shades of coffee depth, some paint brushes, cotton balls, or cotton buds, and an art block or watercolor paper.
Sure it will get a little messy, but coffee is ultimately much easier to clean up compared to poster paints and watercolour. Just don’t confuse the coffee for your actual cup of kopi!
8. Outdoor Painting
Hold up, just because there’s “outdoors” it doesn’t always have to mean venturing far beyond your home. Outdoor painting can be as simple as painting by the balcony, front yard, or your condo’s common area. The idea is to give your little ones space and inspiration to create beautiful art pieces that they won’t often find within the familiarities of home.
It is one of the most whimsically fun art activities for kids who love sensory play and appreciate the freedom to move about and explore on a sunny day. You’ll only need poster paint or washable paint, some sheets of mahjong paper or an art block, some paint brushes or sponges, and a picnic mat or some newspapers to protect the floor where they will be painting at.
One thing to take note of is how they’ll be outdoors and may get a little too excited. So dress your little one up in an old t-shirt and keep some alcohol wet wipes nearby just in case they end up being covered in paint for too long in the midst of their art projects. (But they’ll definitely still be beaming with joy!)
Bonus Tip: Even if your little ones are going to paint at your condo’s common area or front yard, how about making it exciting by packing a scrumptious picnic lunch for them to carry down in their OiYO Little Explorer Backpack? Not only can it store their food safely, it also has ample room and compartments to store all their art essentials and other supplies like water bottles with ease!
9. Flower Pens
If there’s one way to add a little magic into your kid’s day-to-day essentials, it’s to have them build something mundane into something extraordinary - like flower pens! This fun art activity involves turning a boring old pens into beautiful, blooming yet delicate flowers with a few simple art supplies.
What you need are ballpoint pens (I recommend getting affordable ones from Daiso or Mr DIY, and not the pricier Pilot pens for this), some yarn balls, ready-made artificial flowers, scissors, and washi tape.
Your little one can start wrapping their pens with yarn to form the “stalk”, then stick on the ready-made artificial flower on the pen’s cap. That said, if your little ones are artistically gifted, you can always opt to help them bring it to the next level by creating their own flower pieces out of yarn!
10. Ice Painting
Did you ever think that you could paint with ice? Imagine our surprise when we discovered this unique yet fun art activity where kids use ice cubes made out of food colouring and water to create dreamy, watercolor-like effects.
It’s similar to DIY sidewalk chalk-making and art in how the ice will melt away to leave behind soft streaks of colour. But the best part is how it’s less toxic and messy compared to drawing with chalk.
Here’s how you can set this art project for your little ones - prepare an ice cube tray, an array of food colouring in various colours they love, water, craft sticks or toothpicks (which will serve as the ice cube holder), and an art block. It’s perhaps one of the cheapest fun art projects you could set up for your little one during the holidays!
11. Pom Pom Sticker Craft
You’d have probably come across little pom pom balls while walking past the aisles of your local art store, and maybe wondered what they were used for. Well wonder no further because here’s a fun way to use them - through a pom pom sticker craft project!
This art activity is a relatively abstract one that is often well loved by kids who love experimenting on different designs and textures. Here, kids will use the colourful pom poms and sticker dots to decorate existing templates or create a design they have in mind.
It fully engages sensory seekers and it’s a great way to develop their fine motor skills while having fun. All you will need are one or two packs of colourful pom poms from any craft store, DAISO, or Mr DIY, some double-sided tape or a glue stick, paper templates or blank drawing sheets, and perhaps some optional googly eyes to make things even more entertaining for your younger kids.
