Don't give your kids the same old boring routine when it comes to crafts. Substitute crayons during art time for other household items.
Colored paper can be torn in to small pieces, then glued to the coloring pages, too. Leftover foil can be used in the same manner, or just let the kids use punch-outs of foil for adding a little flare to their rice or yarn pictures. Other paper items which look good are old greeting cards torn into tiny bits, or even wrapping paper. Glitter is a favorite choice for kids of all ages. You can purchase glitter in shakers which prevent the spilling of large amounts of glitter and allows for easier clean up. Just lay down newspapers before beginning to craft with glitter. Other glittery craft items for them to use are rhinestones, sequin or even glittery thread. Craft stores nowadays even have glue and glitter pens which are used somewhat like a marker to color in the picture, then let dry and you have a sparkling creation. The problem with these pens, though, is that the glitter glue globs out, so you might have to provide the children with small paint brushes for spreading the glitter glue around. This will save on glue, too, since there's less waste when using a brush to apply. Other items which can be used are beads, pieces of colored cardboard, sand, salt, powdered gelatin, or cut-up pieces of colored plastic, like from a frosting lid.
In your spare time, if you have any, run off copies of the kids' school pictures, pictures of the family pets or even pictures of trees or rocks. Then, let the kids incorporate these images onto the picture they are creating. For instance, they can cut the face of their favorite pet out and place it on the picture of a dog, then finish the picture with brown yarn. Then they can cut out a tree image to overlap an image of a tree in the picture. They can cut out an entire picture of themselves to stand beside the tree, and so on.
Stickers are another favorite of children and they can add them to the coloring pages in many different ways. Stickers of apples, cherries or pears can be stuck to trees, or laying around on the ground of the picture. Stickers of boats can be placed in a sea scene in the coloring book, with shell stickers laying around the shoreline. Craft time with the kids doesn't have to be the same old boring routine. Look around your home to get other ideas for making fun and different coloring pages with items that are just laying around.
